Stick, Stones, and Broken Bones
by ancientbruises
Summary: It's been a dream of her to be a member of the Turks.  And now she finally has her chance, but she had no idea what was in store for her.  Starts after the Advent Children events.  RenoxOC.  Rated T for swearing and such.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own the FF7 characters. This is also my first story, so comments and criticisms is welcome. And if it totally sucks, please let me know. It's going to jump from POV to POV, starting with Renos.

* * *

"Soooo, remind me...what's the point of this?" I mumbled while I rubbed my eyes before stretching slightly in my chair.

"Reno, I swear to god-" Elena started, but was cut off by Rufus holding up his hand and silencing her.

Looking down the table, he glared at me, but to my surprise his tone was calm, "For the sixth time today, we're holding interviews to hire a new member to the Turks."

I shook my head and crossed my arms as I leaned back in my chair. I scoffed, "Tck, yeah I got that after the third loser that walked in here, but **why** are we hiring a new Turk? What's wrong with us? I mean, four's the perfect number for the Turks."

"And is that's why your last mission turned into a failure that nearly killed you all?" Rufus shot back, his voice was bitter and he shifted his threatening gaze onto the pile of folders of the people we were interviewing. I rolled my eyes and watched him from the corner of them as he pressed the button to the intercom: "Karen, bring the next candidate in." I knew I was annoying him, but I really didn't care. The last thing I wanted to do was deal with some new guy coming in and thinking he owns the place. No to mention, the hiring process was boring as fuck.

"That? Please, that was a fluke... a one time thing. Like it will really ever happen again," I said looking up at the ceiling. "A fifth member will just cramp our style, yo."

"Reno..." I heard Rude warn.

But I kept going, "I mean look at the people we've interviewed so far: a momma's boy that still lives at home and thinks video games have prepared him for this job, an extremely butch woman that's more manly than all of us put together, and a douche bag."

"That "douche bag" is a former member of SOILDER, 2nd class I might add. He's our best candidate so far." Tseng curtly said, clearly irritated.

"Whatever, the guys a tool. If I have to work with that ass-"

"Reno. If you don't stop, I will make sure that the number of Turks stays at four." Rufus said harshly, giving me a "drop dead" look.

"See, now you get... oooooh, wait..." I quieted down as soon as I realized what he meant.

He stared at me for a few more seconds before turning back to intercom, pushing the button and spitting the words "Karen. Now." I wish I could say I felt bad for the next poor soul to walk in, now that the president was in a bad mood, but I honestly didn't.

"Still don't get it..." I mumbled under my breath, still staring at the ceiling

I heard the whole table sigh as the door opened and Karen escorted the new guy in, saying something about going to the table and handing their file to President Shinra.

I finally look down from the ceiling and made eye contact to a pair of green eyes and long legs making her way into the room. I couldn't stop the grin that started growing on my face, but now that bad feeling for upsetting the president started festering in the back of my head.

* * *

I was nervous, to say the least. This interview meant everything to me. Being a Turk was a dream of mine, one that I never thought I could get. But here I was. Ever sine the fall of Shinra, they've been trying to rebuild themselves. So far, they have a small company, it was started from basically nothing and thus, it made getting a job there a lot easier. Before, it was near impossible to become a Turk, but now, they're desperate and need people in a bad way.

So here I was, in the waiting room, along with the rest of the people in for the job. Seven, including myself, were left, three had already gone in. I sat in the corner by myself, biting my nails and shaking my left leg.

Since the interview going on right now felt like it was taking forever, I decided to take that time to go to the bathroom and fix myself up. I looked at myself in the mirror up and down. My black dress ended a few inches above my knees and had a sweetheart neckline. I chastised myself, realizing it was military inspired dress and that maybe it wasn't the best choice for an interview with a company that has had a recent bad military past. I signed and leaned into the mirror, trying to straighten up my brunette hair, pulling it up, then taking it down, then settling on pulling it up again for the end result. I looked at myself and sighed again, completely unsatisfied with how I looked. "Ugh...terrible..." I mumbled before leaving and returning to my seat in the waiting room.

A few more minutes went by before I heard my name called, and instantly I felt completely cold, a sort of bone chilling effect hit me hard. I hated interviews. They were my downfall, but I knew it was now or never, make or break. I got up, slowly, and followed the secretary as she opened the door and held it ajar for me.

"Go up to the table and give your file to the President, then have a seat, kay?" she said with a warm smile.

I looked inside and saw a dark room with such an intimidating atmosphere I could die. Inside said room, after a long walk, there was a lone chair in the middle and beyond that was table with five people sitting at it, all on one side, facing this chair. Great, a group interview. The middle I knew was the President, his blond hair and white suit was his signature look that anyone could notice, unless that is, you lived under a rock. The rest I could instantly tell were the Turks, hopefully my future co works. At the far right was a girl with short blond hair. She was seated beside a man with long black hair-who I could tell immediately was of Wutai ethnicity. On the left, beside the president was a bald black man with sunglasses and more ear piercings than me. And lastly, beside him was a man, staring at the ceiling, and all I could tell was that he had an unkempt suit and striking red hair.

I nodded and said thanks before proceeding in. As I started my walk in the redhead look down and look right at me. His mouth was slightly open and I could see on his face a look of confusion. I could understand why, I'm far from menacing looking. The people that I had encountered in the wait room also wanting this job were either muscular men muscular women. I was a girl in a dress and heels, most people get the first impression that I'm a frail little girl. It doesn't help that I look young for my age. People always pin me to be in my early twenties. His look of confusion turned into a smirk as he winked at me. I broke eye contact to hand my file to Mr. Shinra, trying to keep from blushing and to keep my mind focused.

"Hi, my names Annie Nick." I said, giving a sight smile and sticking my hand out for him to shake it.

"Please, sit down," He said with out looking up from the notepad he was writing on. He took my file and motioned to the chair. I winced a little, feeling awkward now, I slowly withdrew my hand.

I nodded, turned and sat down. I felt slightly vulnerable, all eyes were on me besides the presidents, and we were all waiting for him to begin. I shifted uncomfortably in my chair, swallowing hard, trying to get the lump out of my throat that had suddenly formed. The blond girl sat there looking at her nails, she seemed slightly agitated and the man beside her kept looking from the president to me; I tried my hardest not to look him directly in his eyes. The bald man sat with his arm crossed, I had no idea whether or not he was looking at me. For all I know, he could have been asleep with those sunglasses on. I looked down at my feet before finally looking up at the redhead. A smirk still played on his lips and I got a second look at him. He had goggles on his head and tattoos on his face. Or were they scars? I looked away quickly, begging in my head this would be over soon.

With out looking from my file, Mr. Shinra finally began the interview "There's nearly five years missing in your résumé, a gap. Why?" he said bluntly.

I was rather taken aback. I won't lie, it got me totally caught off guard; I figured a typical easy interview question would be first. Not only that, but it wasn't a real self esteem boost when right off the bat he points out a flaw in your résumé, something like that makes me feel inadequate and undesirable.

"Uh, well..." I was really lost. I rubbed the back of my neck thinking of how to reply. I felt discouraged and slightly embarrassed. I paused for a second to think how to put into words a brief period of my life I'd rather not discuss "Well, those five years I took a break from what I was doing to explore other life options. Um... then after the meteor fall I decided to get some more training-"

"Training where?" the man with long black hair asked.

"Wutai" I replied.

"May I?" he asked Mr. Shinra, pointing to my file.

The president slid it in front of him without taking his eyes off me and asked "What makes you better than the other people out there trying for this job?"

"Wait" the black haired man said, putting up his hand. "Your background is rather in depth. You trained in Wutai since you were 5?"

"Yes," I straightened up, thinking that maybe there was hope for me "I trained there for ten years till I was 15. Then for five years till I was 20, I studied around the world, learning various other fighting styles and cultures. Then the five years break, then two more years of fighting training in Wutai."

"That makes you 27, eh?" The red head said leaning forward on the table.

"Yeah." I said, nodding and smiling at him.

He let out a small laugh and said, "You don't look it." That smirk still played on his lips.

I felt my cheeks turn red; thank god it was dark in the room.

I heard the president clear is throat and throw a side glace down the table at the red head. "While your training is very extensive, there's nothing else, training only proves so much. Compared to the other interviewees, you job experience is weak. Well there is none, actually. Why should we choose you?" He said, finally looking up at me, directly in the eyes.

I opened my mouth to answer but was cut short by Mr. Red Head himself, "Ignore him, he's in a bad mood. What he really wants to know is why do you want to be a Turk, why do you think you can run with the big dogs."

The president let out an annoyed sighed then shook his head; I could see him biting his tongue. I sat for a second and thought. I dropped my shoulders and sighed, letting down my defenses and I finally said, "Honestly, I can sit here and brag about how great I am, make myself seem like the best thing to ever walk through those doors. But when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter; all I know is that I am a damn good fighter and a damn good worker. My whole life I worked hard and fought hard and to be a Turk is a dream of mine. I can honestly say I would be a perfect fit for this company and group. But, like I said, when it comes down to it, I can only say so much and it's up to you to take a chance with me so I can prove myself."

Silence. Red head was still smirking at me but now had a satisfied look on his face. The president stared at me before looking down at my file and saying "We'll let you know, thank you."

I was kinda taken aback, over so quickly? It took me a second before I found my voice to say thank you and to get up and leave.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2, comments, questions, criticisms are welcome.

* * *

"Well, I'm sold. She's the new Turk, let's call it a day" I said standing up and stretching.

I heard Elena huff and I looked over in time to catch her glare "You just want to hire her so you can get in her pants."

I smirked and gave a chuckle "Okay, that has a little to do with it, but only a little. Did you see her training, she has more than any of us combined and-"

"So? She has no real world work experience, she probably sucks as an employee..." she snapped back. I'm not surprised she's being difficult, but it didn't stop me from being annoyed.

Tseng raised his hand for her to shush up and said "Yes, but Wutai training is probably the hardest thing a person can be put through. The fact that she's been a part of it for 12 years really says a lot about who she is." Thank god he was on my side.

"See, yo. Rude come on, what do you think?" I said, lightly smacking him on his shoulder.

He was silent for a while before finally saying, "She seems like a good fit."

"Ha! 3 to 1, we win, she's in!"

"No, the President agrees with me, and it's his decision in the end." Elena stated with a smug look spreading on her face.

Rufus nodded his head and then said "I agree with Elena, training means nothing compared to real work like the other people have."

"What! I mean-! Come on!" I cried, I couldn't even form a complete thought I was that frustrated. I threw my hands up and flung myself in my chair. "Fucking bullshit," I mumbled under my breath and Rufus called in the next interviewee.

* * *

Defeated. That's the exact word I would use to describe how I felt. Defeated and humiliated. I closed the door to my house and leaned against it, slowly sinking down to the floor.

"How'd it go?" I heard from the kitchen.

I leaned over from my seat on the ground to look into the room to see whom I was talking to. Tidus. One of my three roommates I lived with. Roommates? No, they're more like my family. I've known them since I was 3 years. Now 24 later, here we were living together, trying to get by. Tides, Xavier, and Kalie, as much as they could get on my nerves, I wouldn't trade them for the world.

I pushed myself up and shrugged my shoulders. "Meh," I leaned against the door frame of the kitchen. "It sucked."

He looked up from the drink he was pouring and said, "Do you mean that? Or is this one of those "oh I did awesome but I'll act like I sucked?""

I dropped the bag I was carrying and slumped myself down in a chair at the kitchen table. "...I fucked up, I blew it," I said slowly, closing my eyes and rubbing my face with my hands. "They pinpointed the fact that I have no work experience immediately, bad first impression, man. They cast me off as soon as they saw that." When I finally opened my eyes, he was beside me and was setting a drink in front of me. "What is it?" I asked.

"Vodka and cranberry juice; drink up. You need it," he said nodding his head to the drink.

I lifted it up and he clinked it with the drink he was holding before downing it whole.

After a sour face and a cough he started "Look, I know you and what you're capable of. If they don't get back to you, then they have to be the biggest idiots in the world. And if they're that shallow to judge at first glance, then fuck 'em. When did they say they'd let you know?"

"The secretary there said Friday."

"So what, 3 days. It's Tuesday today right?" He question to himself before turning to look at the calendar on the fridge.

I scoffed before downing the drink like he did. "Yeah, look I'm tired, I think I'm just lay down for a little."

I got up and started toward the stairs before I stopped. "Where's Kalie?"

Tidus sighed and rolled his eyes "Shopping, where else."

I too rolled my eye and collapse against the wall. "Does she not realize we have no money? I mean I love her but, ugh. Fucking..." the last part came out in a slow mumble. I really did love her, she was pretty much my sister, but we were hurting for money, hence the job hunting. So far Tidus and Xavier had jobs, but she didn't seem to care to even start a job search. Her dream is to marry a rich guy and just live off him. But until then, she's been living of our saving which was almost empty.

He put up his hands defensively and said, "I know, I know."

"Whatever, my heads killing me, I just need to not be awake right now," I said and walked up the stairs.

I got to my room and sat on the edge of my bed. Defeated. It was a feeling I just couldn't shake.

* * *

It was Friday, most people would be preparing for the weekend, but not for us, with Sunday our only day off, Friday is just like any other day sandwiched in the week. Sighing, I looked at the stack of work I had yet to do for the day.

"God I wish there was a mission to do..." I said, stretching and yawning in my chair. "Hey Elena, want to do some work for me?" I asked, swing in my chair to face her across the aisle.

She cast a side-glance at me. "And why would I do that? I have my own work to do."

I opened my mouth to reply but was stopped by Rufus entering the room. "My office, now."

I sat there for a few second, being too lazy to get up before heaving myself up and following the other three into his office.

He sat in his chair and turned to face the window behind his desk. I slumped in an armchair, as Elena stood there alert, Tseng was looking at a bookshelf in the room and Rude leaned in the doorway of the room.

Rufus finally started. "We need to narrow down the job applicants from 10 to 4. Suggestions?" He said turning around in his chair to face us.

After a few seconds of no one saying anything, I decided to speak up. "I already said, the chick, Annie. "

"No, defiantly not, not when there are others that need to be considered first. Let's just go through the files, make a yes or no pile and go from there." Elena...you're always so helpful...wait no, you're the exact opposite.

Tseng nodded, walking up to the president's desk and grabbing the first file "First candidate, Paul Lauger?"

"Mama's boy, loser, lives at home" I said without looking at the group and counting the flaws on my hand.

"In laments terms, yes. I agree, he goes in the no pile." Rufus said.

And that's how it went, except longer and mind-numbingly boring. We got to the last two files and we had already filled three spots. So far, the ex 2nd class SOILDER: John Listred, the butch self defense teacher: Janice Kipper, and a mall cop: Damien Belder. This group looked far from promising. Honesty, I had zoned out after the first 3rd file we went through. I ended up dazed and imagining what it would be like doing something not this. Doing paperwork sounded like heaven.

"Last two files: Otis Myothin and Annie Nick." Tseng stated, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Annie Nick." was all I could say as I raised my hand.

This caused Elena to do a loud sigh and caused me to finally stand up about this issue.

Springing from my chair, I put my hands up and said in a louder that usual voice, "Look just give her a chance, please. I have a good feeling about her. If she sucks then I'll take full blame on it. Just trust me, and take this chance. Please." I ended in front of Rufus's desk with my hands clasped together, literally begging him.

Rufus eyed me up and down. Finally he nodded "Okay, but it's on you if it ends bad."

"Yes!" Pumping my fist "You won't regret it, I promise."

I started to leave the room but Rufus stopped me "But because I'm doing you this favor, you get to call the candidates and tell them to come back in next Tuesday for the second interview process. Tell them to bring a weapon."

"Aye aye boss" I said with salute as I scooped up the files before heading back to the Turk's offices.

* * *

Here's the dress Annie wore from the first chapter. I meant to post it then, but I completely forgot:

./fcp/product/buy-fashion-look-fabulous/day-dresses/military-tab-dress/8132?colour=blue


	3. Chapter 3

As always, comment, criticisms, or questions are welcome.

* * *

Sliding the files on my desk, I flung myself into my chair while picking up the telephone receiver. Opening the top file, Elena sat down across the aisle at her desk. "Happy?" she ask.

"Very" I replied, not looking at her and dialing the first number. "What's your problem with her anyway?" I swung my legs up on my desk and leaned back in my chair, facing her.

She didn't look at me as she shrugged and said bitterly, "Nothing, I just think there's better people for this job."

Finally, I put two and two together. I felt a grin tug on my lips. "You're jealous!" I exclaimed in triumph over my discovery.

"What! Don't be ridiculous- that's-no, no, just no." She tripped over her words as she defended herself.

"It's true, haha, wow. You're used to being the only girl here. You're worried she's going to come in and replace you as the femme fatal." On the phone, I was still waiting for someone to pick up.

"Reno, don't be stupid, that's far from the truth."

"Yeah yeah, well in any case...Hello? Yeah, this is Reno calling on behalf of the Shinra Company..." I started when the phone was finally answered.

This was the scripted answer I gave for two other phone calls. "Three down, one to go, and look who it is." I open the next file to Ms. Nick. Inside of it was her application, résumé and a photo of her paper clipped to it. I picked it up and grinned as I looked at her.

"What's that look for?" Elena, always interrupting my thoughts.

"Hmm?" I said, looking at the picture for a few more seconds before pulling away to see what Elena wanted.

She had a confused look on her face, then her jaw dropped. "Oh my god, you like her!" Her face turned from shocked to a smug smile. "And not just a "Bang and leave her" like, but you actually have a crush on her! It all makes sense now!" She was fully animated and nearly fell out of her chair from leaning forward towards me.

"What! Elena that is the stupidest thing you've said all day, it's- no, you know I'm not even going to entertain that thought." The tables had turned and I'll admit, I probably felt the way Elena did only a few minutes ago.

That smug smile still was painted on her face "It's true, I understand it all now. That has to be the reason,"

"Oh and how do you know that?"

"Simple logic. I know you and if you did just want her for one night, you wouldn't want work with her. No, that would just be awkward, plus you'd have to deal with the drama that entails afterward. If you wanted to just sleep with her, if anything you'd try to deny her so you could step in, "console" her then do as you please."

I shook my head, "You're wrong, that's-"

But she continued, "Instead you want us to hire her, which can only mean you want to get to know her, to see her everyday, maybe want to form a relationship." When she said that, I could feel the heat in my cheeks rise. Fuck Elena, I hated when she did stuff like that, pinning me and being exactly right as to what she was talking about.

I turned away from her, "Whatever," was all I could mumble and I started dialing her number.

"Aw, now don't be embarrassed, I think it's cute. I've known you for how long and I've never seen you act like this. It's nice to see this side." All I could do was shake my head.

"Hello?" I heard over the phone.

"Hello, is Annie there?"

"Yeah, one minute." Said the voice.

I sighed, I guess rather loudly because it made Elena ask me what that was for.

"Some guy answered the phone," I said unenthusiastic.

"Boyfriend maybe?" I scoffed and said nothing. "Look who's jealous now..." Sometime, I really want to punch her in the face.

I held back and toyed with her "So are you admitting you're jealous of her?"

"I-uh-" was all she said as a sour look contoured her face.

I arrogantly smiled.

"Hello?" her voice broke my thoughts as a stumbled to focus on the task at hand.

* * *

"Annie, phone." I didn't even open my eyes, I just rolled over, pull the blankets closer to me.

"Tell them to leave a message." I mumbled, barely making sense.

I heard Tidus's footsteps walk to my bed, "Come one, it's nearly 3 in the afternoon." I just groaned and pulled the covers over my head. Yeah it was 3 in the afternoon, but I was also out til I don't even remember last night/early morning, downing shots and forget how much I sucked. Was I jumping the gun? I didn't think so, as the days wore on and no call, my already low self-confidence plummeted deeper. Needless to say, I was a tad hungover. Tidus's voice pounded my ears, "Plus...I don't think you want to miss this phone call.'"

I sprung up instantly, my head rushed with excitement and the activities from last night had completely left my body. "You mean?"

"Yeah pretty sure." He had a smile on his face.

"Gimmie!" I yelled, crawling to the end of my bed to meet him. He handed me the phone and I took a deep breath to calm myself before put my phone to my head. "Hello?"

It was quiet for a second. "Uh, hello, this is Reno calling on behalf of the Shinra Company. I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to come back for the second interview process."

After hearing these words, I was giddy with excitement. I was kneeling on my bed, squeezing Tidus's arm with my one hand and biting my tongue to not stop from screaming the words "Fuck yeah!".

I tried my best to keep a composed voice and act nonchalant. "Great, when would you like me to come back in?"

"This coming Tuesday, please arrive here at 10 am and go to the secretary in the lobby on the bottom floor and she can tell you where to go from there."

"Alright, sounds good." I was so hard to keep this call professional.

"And also, bring a weapon of your choice and we can't wait to see you there." The voice on the other end said.

"Cool, thank you so much." I let my professionalism slide a bit, but I didn't care.

"Haha, no problem, and good luck." At least it was a nice guy on the phone with me; made me curious as to which one he was at the interview. Or maybe he was just a guy that made phone calls?

"Thank you again, bye," he said bye back and I hung up the phone.

I sat there stunned for a while before Tidus broke my train of thought: "So, I take it you didn't get it," he said jokingly.

I threw the phone on my bed before tackling him and let out a squeal.

* * *

"'We can't wait to see you there' and 'Good luck'...wow I am so right about you liking her."

I had a smile on my face but I refused to turn toward her to let her see it. "Shut up, Elena."

I got up to take the files back, but before entering Rufus's I turned, looking around the room quickly before leaning forward and saying "That conversation about...you know, Rude and Tseng will never find out, kay?"

She smiled a crafty smile before taking her hand and crossing her heart. "You have my word."

I nodded before going into enter the office.


	4. Chapter 4

"Black or blue?" I said, entering the kitchen.

"Huh?" Xavier mumbled, lifting his head up from the newspaper he was reading.

I mouthed the word 'shoes' and pointed down at my feet, my left foot had a blue heel on and my right had a black one, and in my left arm I held the mates to them.

"Blue." He said before turning back to the paper. I sat down across from him at the table, slipping off the black heel and replacing it with the mate of the blue one.

"Is it really that wise to wear heels and a skirt to a interview that requires fighting?" Kalie spoke up, seated between Xavier and me, on the right side of our square, little kitchen table.

"Shut up, Kay. You're just jealous she can kick ass in heels and you an barely walk in them..." Xavier said, not even caring to look up from the paper.

"Someone's cranky today." She murmured under her breath.

He sighed before looking at her long and hard, "I'm tired, I worked til 2 am and have to go back in at 10 am. Cut me some slack." I heard him say something barely audible about "at least I have a job" as he turned away.

I got up and grabbed his empty coffee cup and walked to the counter. I did feel bad for him. The poor guy did nothing but work, his job at the hospital had him on call all the time, and last night was no exception

"Anywaaaay," I started, break the cold chill that entered the room, but before I could continue Kalie cut me off. "Annie, think you could do me a favor?"

"What's that?" I said, reaching up in the cupboard for a mug for myself.

"Can you hook me up with that boss of yours, that guy not only has money, but he is amazing to look at."

I let out a chuckle as I started pouring coffee in the two mugs. "Couple things about that. One, he's not my boss...yet. Second, the Shinra Company isn't the way it was, it's not a bazillion dollar company raking in the money." I walk over and placed the coffee in front of Xavier before sitting back down.

"So? Still a nice piece of meat, and beside they'll be back on top soon."

I chuckled again and shook my head.

"What is the company up to anyway?" Xavier asked, looking up, taking an interested in the conversation.

I shrugged my shoulder and took a sip of coffee. "No clue, guess I'll find that out if I get the job."

"Well," he started, getting up and setting down his paper. "If they need any one in their medical and science labs, assuming they still have them, put in a good word for me."

"Haha will do." I finished my coffee before standing up and putting it in the sink. "I should probably get going, it's already 9:30."

I started to walk out, grabbing my bag. "Good luck" I heard from Xavier.

"Hey, don't forget, give Shinra my number, kay?" Kalie shouted, I laughed before nodding and shutting the front door.

Getting in my car, I took a deep breath before starting it. So much was going through my head; it was to the point where it was overwhelming. I was worried, what if I wasn't as good as the other people I'm up against, what if I fail miserably in front of all these people. I put the car in gear and started my 15-minute drive to the Shine Company building. Shuffling through my iPod, I picked some music to fit my mood, to pump me up for what was to come.

Music blaring, I pulled up to the building, finding a parking space close by. Taking another deep breath, I got out the car and popped the trunk. I walked around back to grab my sword, but at I started to bend down my thoughts were cut off by "Well, look who made it to round two."

I turned around to see who was talking to me and smiled.

"If it isn't John Listred," my biggest competition, a former 2nd class ex-SOILDER, which meant he had a sort of seniority and pull over the company. I met him last interview, and before he had went in for his, we made acquaintances.

"Excited?" he asked.

"Worried would be the term I'd use." I said, turning back to my trunk. I picked up my sword and closed the lid.

"Yeah, well you should be, cause you're going down," he gave me a playful shove as we started walking to the building.

I know he was joking but it knocked me down a bit in the confidence sense. And I'm pretty sure he noticed.

"Hey, woah, I was just joking," he said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Tell you what, winner takes the loser out to dinner."

I tried to keep a cool demeanor but in my head I was thinking "Fuck..." Don't get me wrong, he was a nice guy, but I was not interested in him that way what so ever (plus, between you and me, he wasn't strong in the looks department), and it made me uncomfortable that he was hinting to a date.

I decided to joke it off, "Puh-lease, if I get this job, I'm not sharing my winnings with anyone." I opened the door to the building and before he could reply I was already at the front desk, checking in.

"9th floor," the secretary said unenthusiastic, not even looking up from her crossword puzzle.

"Thank you," I said, walking to the elevator, John not far behind. "Great, a long elevator ride with a guy hitting on me" I thought.

I entered the elevator and leaned against the back wall, and John got closer to me. "Okay, if you get the job, I'll still pay. You, me, dinner, deal?"

I started to shake my head and say something but he stopped me "No, don't answer yet, think about it."

This guy just wasn't getting it. I looked at the ground; at least I could say no and after this never have to see him again. Sometimes I hate the fact that I can't be mean to people...well when it comes to situations like this.

After a few more seconds of awkward silence, the elevator finally stopped and opened. There, in the waiting room were three doors and two other people, some buff guy that looked like he overdoses on steroids and a woman that looked the same and also gave me the creeps.

I took a seat open at the far end, hoping no one would join me, but that plan obviously didn't look promising as John sat right between me and the other two.

It was only a five-minute wait before a door opened and in walked the president and the 4 others from the interview.

And then the president began a speech: "Welcome and congratulations on advancing to the next step in employment of becoming a loyal Turk. This part will address you fighting skills. You will soon enter our training room where you will prove yourself by fighting 5 enemies. Should at anytime this becomes too much for you, there will be a red button by the entrance that you can press to will stop the fighting. In conjunction with that, if we see that you are in danger and the enemy has overcome you, we will stop it ourselves. At this time I would like to introduce the current members of the Turks, the ones you will be working with should we choose you. First you have the commander, if you are hired, he will be your superior; Tseng." I looked to the man who stepped forward, the Wutain man with long black hair.

"Next you have Elena." The short haired blond gave a small wave.

"Rude." The bald man there nodded his head.

"And Reno."

"Yo." The red-haired man with goggles and tattoos gave a two-fingered wave.

Reno? The same man who called me on the phone, the same man that made me blush at the interview, the same man that I could now see was even cuter than I thought he was in that dark interview room.

"Fuck Annie, get a grip, now is not the time to think like that." I scolded myself in my mind.

"They, along with myself will be watching you as you fight. You'll be going in alphabetical order, starting with Belder. That is all." He turned and started to leave but before he did, he turned his head towards us and said: "Oh and one other thing, no magic" And that was it, he turned and left, followed by the Turks, last leaving was Reno, giving me a quick glance and smirk before leaving.


	5. Chapter 5

"So we just watch them fight? Easy day, eh boss?" I said, closing the door to the observation room behind me.

"Don't get comfortable yet. Here." He said handing out the files of our candidates. "We have a surprise for them, their fifth enemy, if they get that far, will be one of you. There are four of them and four of you. Each one of you will battle with one of them." And he started giving us each a file. "Elena you'll be first with Belder. Tseng, you'll be paired with Listred. Rude: Kipper-"

I chuckled, nudging him with my elbow "Dude, that chick has more testosterone that you," I joked with him.

Rufus cleared his throat "Which leave you with Ms. Nick, Reno."

I straightened up, looking shocked, I hadn't even had time to think to make that connection. I felt my face drain. "Wha-?"

He push her file into my arms, "Don't go easy on her just to make her look good."

I was baffled "Why me with her?" Don't get me wrong, I would do **a lot** with her, but fighting her, having to show no mercy and whatnot, not my idea on hitting things off with her.

He turned away from me and stood at the window that looked into the training room where they would be fighting. "You're the one that was so passionate about hiring her, it only seemed fitting. Elena, get ready, the first person is about to begin."

I just stood there with my mouth opened and Elena looked over at me with a sympathetic look. I could do nothing but watch as the fighting started.

And even that was all such a blur. The first guy didn't even get past the third round before tapping out. The manly chick got up to the last round, but as soon as Rude walk through the door she pulled out. Listred, the ex-SOILDER, to my disgust, did well, he gave Tseng a good fight, but in the end, Tseng had him down for the count.

"Reno, get ready." Rufus said, opening the door for Tseng to get in.

I got up slowly, grabbing my electro-mag rod, watching as Annie walked in to the training room, sword in her right hand, looking around and looking calm.

* * *

Finally, they called my name. For some reason I was relaxed, I knew what I was doing, come what may, all I had to do was do what I do best. Easy enough. I left the waiting room, calm and composed and entered an octagon training room. The walls were almost a blinding white and the bright lights didn't help it any. My heels clicked on the wooden floor. The room was empty with three doors, the one I came out, one on my left and one in front of me with a giant wide mirror beside it. I looked right at it, knowing it wasn't there just for me to check my hair. It was there so the could watch me, a two-way mirror.

I twirled my sword in my right hand a but before I knew it, I heard a loud buzzer go off and a red light above the door on the left flashed. It slid open and in a split second a monster was sprinting towards me. I ducked as it lunged at me. Standing back up, I turned towards it and watched as it skidded into the wall. I got a better look and my training instantly kicked in, getting my blood pumping. A Blood Taste, low HP, no MP. Attacks: body slam, leap, bite and tentacle. Weak point: head. "Piece of cake" I thought, a slight smirk played on my lips as I brought my sword up and charged to it. It turned and faced me, jumping towards me again, but this time instead of ducking, I gave it a swift kick to the face and knocked it down. Stunning it, I brought my sword down in a quick stab to the head, killing it instantly.

A Cockatolis, Bomb, and a Zulu were my next fights. By the end of it, I was hardly breaking a sweat. I pulled my sword out from the over sized bird and started at it, facing away from the wall with the mirror and door.

"Wow, I think that's a new record"

I turned around quickly, seeing Reno saunter in from the door by the mirror.

I smirked "Let me guess, the fifth and final opponent would be you? Very clever."

He gave shrug, "What can I say, had to give you a real battle."

"Well then, lets get this over with so that one can come." I quipped.

"Oooh, feisty, I like that," he replied, whipping out his electro-mag, flicking it on.

I gave him a 'come here' motion with my hand before getting into a fighting stance.

He ran towards me, drawing up his weapon to strike me. I calmly stepped out the way as he stumbled from his momentum. He shot me a playful glare before straightening up again. He went to strike me again and I blocked it, followed by an elbow to his jaw.

We went back and forth like this for a while, trading blows and blocking hits, until I finally pushed him to the ground and knocked his weapon away from him. Stepping on his chest with a heel and pointing my sword at his throat, I gave him a triumphant smile.

At first he hit me with a glare but then he smiled back, but strangely it was a smug one. I had brief moment of confusion but before I could question him, he lifted his right hand, palm up and flat, facing towards me. My eyes widened but before I could stop what was happening, I felt the heat of a fireball hit my face.

Stumbling backwards, I started batting the magic fire out of my face, but it still caused me to cough and take my breath away. I was doubled over from it, trying to catch some fresh air. It distracted me to what Reno was doing. He sprung up from the ground, and in a flash he grabbed his weapon and had me pin against the wall and disarming me from my sword.

I gasped, staring directly in him eyes. "You cheated." I said breathlessly.

"I'm a Turk. I get to bend the rules." He said with a smirk and cocked his head to the side. I looked to the side to see my sword only a foot away from me on the ground.

Reno's face was less than an inch from mines. I could feel his breath on my lips. I couldn't lose, not like this. I had to find a way to win. And then a plan snapped into my head and I knew what I had to do.

I smiled back at him. He gave me a questioning look but I didn't give him a chance to say anything, I closed the gap between us, pressing my lips firmly against his. At first I could tell he was shocked, but it only lasted a split second. He put his guard down and deepened the kiss, running his tongue against my bottom lip, begging for entrance. I slowly opened it, letting him in, feeling his tongue explore my mouth, making sure to leave every area untouched. He combed his right hand through my hair and pushed my face closer to him. I brought my left hand and cupped his cheek while my right hand rested on him firm chest.

I'll admit, the kiss was a plan to get his defenses down. But as it went on, I lost myself in the passion of it. Deeper and deeper, we got wrapped up in what was meant to just be a small little kiss.

I finally got my head back into the game when I realized his left arm was starting to wrap around my waist. Slowly I slid my hand down his arm, slipping it between the electro-mag and his hand, intertwining our fingers together, letting his weapon fall. When I heard the clink of the metal meet the wooden floor, I went into action.

I gave him a swift shove backwards, still holding onto his hand, before swing him around and slamming him against the wall, reversing our positions. I swooped down to grab my sword and bring it to his throat.

He was silent, then I heard him chuckle. "You cheated."

I leaned into him, put more pressure on him and close to his ear and said, "I'm a woman. I get to bend the rules."

After a few seconds of being in this position, the blare of an alarm filled the room, cuing me that my time was up and to leave the room. I let go of Reno and without saying a word I walked to the exit, giving him one last smile before shutting the door behind me.

* * *

I stood there stunned for a few seconds. I was in total disbelief as to what just happened. A smiled crept onto my lips and I finally got feeling back into my body. I gave another laugh and I bent down to pick up my electro-mag. I was in a haze as I walked back into to the room with the rest.

I shut the door behind me and all they did was stare at me. After a few seconds Rufus cleared the air. "Well then, it's almost 2, take a late lunch and get back to work." With that he left the room.

I followed him out, not wanting to deal with what Elena might say or the disapproving look from Tseng or Rude.

If only I was that lucky. Rude and Tseng went their own ways but Elena ran to catch up with me.

"Mind telling me what that was?" Elena said, grabbing my arm to stop me.

"What what was?" I said, playing it off like nothing, slipping from her hand and pressing the up button for the elevator.

She looked at me like I was insane. "Uh, gee let's see, the make out session you just had."

I looked at her, leaning in slightly and whispered, "I don't kiss and tell."

"Eh! No Reno, come on!" she exclaimed, dropping her shoulders with an exasperated look.

I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head, "What do you want me to say?" I tuned away and walked into the elevator shaft. "All I know is that I think I need to take a cold shower now."

I turned around to see her with a disgusted look. "Gross Reno." And she walked off in the direction of Tseng.

Finally, alone to think. I leaned against the wall and shook my head. "God damn."


	6. Chapter 6

"So, how'd you do?" I cringed a little, I was so close to being in the clear, all I had to do was unlock my car and get in. But of course, my luck would deceive me.

No, I was too much in a good state of mind to be ruined by this kid. I turned around from my car and said, "Pretty good, I think I nailed it."

I turned my back to Listred, unlocked my door, and got in. Yet before I could shut the door he held it open, standing in between it and the car itself, leaning over me as he talked.

"I think I did pretty well, got so close to beating the last guy. Tseng, I think his name is?"

"Yeah, I had Reno." I started the car, hoping he'd take the hint.

"Soooo," he squatted down so he was at eye level at me. "How about that date?"

Mother fuck, of course this is how it would end up. Usually I feel terrible rejecting guys, I was always worried about their feelings. In the fight world, I was ruthless, but when it comes to dating, I was a softy. But not at this moment, no, I felt like I could be brutal. Maybe it was the blood pumping through my veins, maybe it was my head that was still spinning, but for some reason, after leaving Reno, I felt like I could do anything.

I let out a soft chuckle, "No," was the only thing I said.

"Wha?" He looked so confused, like I just explained to him how to do brain surgery.

"You heard me," and with that I turned in my seat and gave him a gentle kick out of the way and swiftly closed my door before tearing out of the parking lot. I looked in my rearview mirror to see him getting up, yelling something that was muffled by my music, and flipping me off.

I pulled up to my house to see Tidus on the front porch, smoking a cigarette.

"Sup lady?" he said as I started up the steps.

I threw him a peace sign and said "Nothing here, you?"

"Just chillin'" he let out a long puff of smoke before offer his pack of cigarettes to me.

I shook my head "Nah man, you know I quit."

"Right, right," he said as he put them back in his pocket. "How'd it go?"

I looked at the ground and gave a wide smile. I brought my head back up and nodded my head, " Good, I think I did real well."

He finished his cigarette and opened the front door for me "Fuck shit up?"

I laughed, "Hope so, but no, in all seriousness I have a good feeling about this." I headed upstairs after we entered the house. He wasn't far behind me.

"Awesome" he yelled in a sort of singing voice.

"What's awesome? She got the job?" Kalie said, running out of her bedroom upon hearing this.

"Not exactly, but high hopes," I told her, entering my bedroom.

She followed me in, "Did you happen to give my number to a certain someone?"

I turned and looked at her before giving a small laugh "Yes, I gave him your number, you have a date with him tomorrow. Wear something nice."

"A simple no would have been enough, Miss Sarcasm." She shot me a smile and rolled her eyes. She then looked at me with a puzzled face, getting really close to mine.

I took a step back, "What?"

She reached out and took her thumb, wiping right under my bottom lip. She then looked at it before wiping it on her pants. "Why is your lipstick smudge?"

My eyes widened as I started frantically trying to wipe up anymore that might be there "Where?"

"Don't worry I got it. Jesus, what did they have you do, make out with people?" she joked, turning and leaving.

"Funny," I said, but my cheeks were burning up from blushing.

* * *

"Reno! Stop it, I'm not telling you again."

"Huh?" I said turning from my computer screen to Elena.

"Quit tapping your pen against your desk. It's real annoying."

"Sorry, yo. I'm just bored." I let out a yawn. "It's Saturday and we have no work to do. They should just let us go."

"Reno, you do have work." Rude spoke up, nodding to the stack of paper on my desk.

"Yeah, but that's paper work not real work." I rested my head in my hand. "Seventh Heaven tonight Rude?"

He nodded back, not even looking my way.

Tseng walked in from his little office in our room; "Rufus want to see us real quick."

"Then we can go home?" I said hopeful.

"It's not even 1:30 yet, don't be difficult," he said, walking out of the room, into Rufus's office.

"Monday our new Turk will be starting to work here. The only problem is, we haven't decided who that person is. Let's figure it out now." Rufus said, sitting in his chair, facing us.

I opened my mouth to say something, but Tseng placed a hand on my shoulder and the other up to stop me. "I think we all know who Reno's votes for. As for myself, I have to agree. Rude?"

I looked over at him; come on partner, don't fail me now. "Annie" He simple said.

"Yes" I let out in a small hiss.

We all turned and looked at Elena, standing there with her arms crossed. "Listred." She looked right at me and said it.

I rolled my eyes. "He got to the final level, near defeated Tseng, and has worked with our company before." She argued to us.

Rufus shifted his focused from her to Tseng. "And your argument for Nick?"

"She has excellent training records, she not only made to the final round, but also defeated Reno-"

"She made out with Reno, anyone, particularly her, could beat him if they did that." Elena fought back.

"That's not true!" I interjected. "What she did was crafty, I mean, you have to give it to her that she stopped at nothing to win."

"Reno's right. And isn't that what makes a Turk, doing things that aren't appealing, but getting the job done." Tseng said.

"Yeah, wait. Hey!" I said, getting what he meant, "That was an insult."

He had a small smirk on his face. I'll admit, Tseng can be serious, but the man knows how to throw in some jabs.

Elena had a bitter look, glaring all three of us. "Sir? What do you think?"

I sucked my breath in, the President was the only one whose opinion counted, and so far, he didn't look favorably on my choice.

Then, surprisingly he said, "Ms. Nick. She was the best choice from the get-go."

"What? But I though-" Elena tried to finish her sentence but Rufus wouldn't let her.

"I know, but what fun would it be if I let you knew my choice from the start. I'll give her call today and expect to see her bright and early on Monday. "

I walked back into our office, do the smallest of dances in victory in front of Elena. She gave me a hard shove and walked to her desk.

* * *

"A watched pot never boils." Xavier said, sitting next me.

"What?" I said, not taking my eyes of my cell phone.

"I said, a watched po-"

"I know what you said, but this is a phone," I said, pointing to it.

He let out a sigh, " I mean, it's a saying, meaning staring at-"

"I know what you mean, I'm just messing," I said, giving him a nudge. "But it's Saturday, if they would have called, it would have been Friday, or at least this morning." I said, leaning back in the chair.

"Don't give up yet little lady." He said, ruffling my hair before getting up.

I set my phone down on our coffee table, before getting up and stretching. 2 pm, and so far I've done nothing but stare at my phone since 10 am. I stood up and made my way up stairs to my bathroom, I figured I should at least shower.

I had just taken my shirt off, when I could faintly hear the sound of my ringtone. My eyes widened as I made a mad dash down my steps and into my living room, yelling, "I'll get it" on the way. I took a deep breath before answering. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Annie Nick?" The voice on the other end asked.

"Yes, this is she." It took all that I had not to stutter.

"This is Rufus Shina. I am pleased to inform and congratulate you on meeting the requirements to becoming our newest member of the Turks. We look forward to you working with us and except nothing less that your utmost strength, responsibility, and loyalty to our company. Your first day will begin this coming Monday. Please arrive promptly at 9 am so we can get you in the swing of things."

I took a deep breath, making sure he was done talking. "Yes sir, thank you sir."

"I'll see you then, goodbye." And with that, he hung up the phone.

I stood there, absolutely frozen in place.

"Annie?" Tidus said, snapping his fingers in my face.

"I got the job." I let out in a whisper.

Tidus cocked his head and whispered, "Why are you whispering? ...and why are you only in a bra and shorts?"

I snapped out of it, realizing him, Kalie and Xavier had all circled around me. I gave a gasp and then yelled, "I got the fucking job!"


	7. Chapter 7

"How's this one?" I said as I walked out from behind my dressing screen.

Tidus gave me a thumbs up, "Perfect."

I looked in my mirror. "Are sure?" I turned and looked at him as he leaned back on his hands on my bed. "I feel like I look like a matronly secretary. "

"If the secretaries I worked wi-" he was saying but I interrupted him and started pacing.

"And then what if I walk in and I they think I **am **supposed to be a secretary and they put me behind a desk. Then I'll have to work with that job for the rest of my life, taking phone calls and getting people coffee. Then I'll become a surly old woman and I'll never live my dream!" I stopped and looked at him with a frightened look.

Tidus looked absolutely baffled "...what? An-Annie, I don't even know what to say, that scenario is impossible. No one thinks like that, but you. Now calm down, we're just picking out an outfit for your first day of work. Which, may I remind you, you'll only be wearing til you get your uniform."

Okay, maybe he's right, I was over reacting, but I was so nervous, everything that could go wrong, I was thinking it, even if it was far-fetched. I nodded my head, "Right, okay, but not this outfit, I don't want to look like a secretary."

"Well, better hurry up, you have to leave in...15 minutes"

"Oh, shi..." I went behind my screen and quickly changed my outfit to a black dress.

"I have a good feeling about this one" and I walk out in front of him.

He wiped away a fake tear "My little girl, all grown up."

I gave him a quick punch in the shoulder. He may have only been a few months younger than me, but I looked up to him like he was my big brother.

"Okay" I gave myself a once over, "Hair, make-up, clothes and heels. Check. And I'm good to go."

After a cup of coffee and another mental check to make sure I had everything, I was on my way to my first day of work.

"ID please?" the security at the front door asked me as soon as I stepped through door.

"Oh, uh...I actually don't have one..." I started digging through my bag, trying to find my wallet for my licenses.

"Oh, Ms. Nick? Yeah, the President told me about you. Just go ahead up to the 11th floor and the secretary up there will help you out." He said with gentle smile.

"Thank you," I smiled back and went straight to the elevator. Being in there, all alone, made my mind race. Thoughts and fears crept into my head. What if I couldn't do this, what if I was in over my head? I put my head in my hands and scolded myself in my mind for thinking like that. The inner fight in my head was ended by the ding of the elevator and the door slid open to a room with two doors and desk with a secretary.

She smiled brightly at me "Annie, congratulations on the job! You're just on time. Go ahead in, Mr. Shina is waiting for you," and she motioned to the door to my right.

I nodded and walked right in on the president who was writing on some papers.

"Ah, Annie, can I call you Annie?" He said, motioning for me to take a seat.

"Please" I replied, smoothing my dress out before sitting down.

"Good," he got out of his chair and made him way in front of him desk, sitting slightly on the edge. "First, I want to congratulate you once again. You proved yourself to be hands down the only choice for this position. With that said, this job is not for the light of heart. It's no secret that the Turks participate in..." he paused for a second, searching for the right words, "...less then friendly affairs. Espionage, black mailing, kidnapping, and assassination are just some of the missions that you may be put on. If you don't think you can do this, then you might as well walk out that door." He nodded to the door and looked at me. By this point, a smile crept onto my face; just thinking of doing missions was making me excited. He reached behind him and grabbed a clipboard with a pile a papers on it. He handed it to me, "Here is your contact with us. Read over it and sign it." I started scanning the documents. "It's pretty straight forward. Swearing your loyalty to the Turks and Shinra's name, promising secrecy and confidentiality to your work; also benefits, pay, the usual."

I scratched my name on it and handed it back to him.

"At this ti-" his phone cut him off. "One minute please," and he walked around to the other side of his desk and answered the phone "Hello, President Shinra" It was quiet for a few seconds as he listened to the other voice on the phone. "You absolutely need me there?" More silence. He let out an annoyed sigh. "Alright, let me finish up a few things here and I'll fly right over." He hung up the phone and didn't say a word to me as he walked over and opened a door that was to the left of me at the end of his office. He stood in the doorway as I listened to the conversation.

"Reno...where's Elena?"

"Huh?" Reno's voice made me blush briefly

"Elena, where is she?" he asked again.

"I donno. And hey, speaking of missing people, where's Rude and Tseng?"

"I sent them on a mission to Junon. There was a break in at one of our old buildings there, they're checking out thing, see what's up."

"What! Why didn't you send me, I've been dying here just sitting in this stuffy room." I let out a small laugh hearing him.

"Because I have a more important job for you, unless you don't want to show our newest member around."

I heard a jumble of mess and then through the door, Reno ran into the room, nearly pushing Mr. Shinra out of the way. He stopped and gave me a wave "Hey."

I let out a laugh and said "Hi" back and stood up.

Rufus went back to his desk and pull out his briefcase. "You know Reno, he's going to give you a tour around, show you the ropes, and get you in the swing of things." I nodded and slowly made my way over to Reno. He looked over at Reno "I just got a call from Tseng, he said they found something and wants me there now, so I'll probably be there for the day. A couple things, make sure you take her to the medical floor so they can give her a checkup, just to make sure she's healthy. At 2 pm, she has an appointment with the tailor to get her uniform. Make sure to meet him in the lobby on time. And lastly, after she gets her uniform, take her to security to get her ID and file up to date. Kay?" He said, looking at the pair of us.

"Aye, aye" Reno said, giving him a mock salute.

Rufus nodded and headed to a set of doors on the right side of his office

He was just about to close the door behind him when he stopped and looked Reno directly in the eyes "And Reno, behave." And with that he shut the door to leave Reno and I alone.

"This way," he said and pointed to the doors I had gone through originally and we headed back to the room with the secretary. "We'll start from the bottom floor, work our way up." We walked in to the elevator and both leaned against the back wall. He leaned in close to me and said, "Excited?"

I looked up briefly at him, even in heels; he was at least a couple inches taller. I looked from him down to my feet. "More nervous that anything."

"Nervous, why are you nervous?"

I shrugged my shoulders; "There's a lot of pressure on the first day."

He leaned in even closer to my face, "Elaborate."

"Well, first impressions, that's always a pressure situation. I mean I have one chance to make people here like me and if I make a wrong move, then I could have no friends and people here will hate me and..." He started giving me a small laugh, causing me to look up at him. "You're laughing, why are you laughing?"

He looked at me, "You crack me up, girl." My face dropped and I looked away, I didn't want him to think of me as a joke. He put his hand under my jaw and lifted my face up to look at him "Don't worry, it's cute." I rolled my eyes and gave him a smile. "And beside, don't worry about making friends, because in this business you only need to be friends with one person. And that's me. And trust me, we're already friends. Kay?"

I nodded and he smiled back. The elevator slid open and he walked out elaborately with his arms stretched out, and started with the tour of the building.

We went through every floor, from security rooms, medical and science labs, to floors filled with cubical for the pencil pushers and accountants. All the way, we were cracking jokes and having fun. Reno made sure to make me feel comfortable and by the time we reach the 9th floor, it felt like we have been friends for a long time.

"9th floor, should look familiar, no?" he asked as we walked side by side.

"Training room, right?"

He nodded his head, "You have the training room on this side on this floor, but if you go over to the right side, you have our rooms."

He opened the door on the right side of the hallway to show another hallway running parallel to it.

I looked up and door and saw a row of four or five doors. The atmosphere was much different than the hallway I was just in, instead of a company feel, it a more relaxed, with carpeted floors and soft lighting.

"Rooms?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, walking to the end of the hall. "That's one perk of being a Turk now, we get our own room. We made sure of it when this building was being built. Not like an office room, but more like a dorm, I guess you'd call it. That way if we have an early mission, or we get back late from one, instead of going all the way home to sleep, you can crash here. It's great if you get wasted and don't want to go all the way back home."

We reached a door with the number 5 on it, the last one in the hall. "Let me guess, this ones mine?" I asked.

"Yep," and he opened the door to it. I wouldn't say I was in awe, but I was impressed. Inside to my right, was a little kitchenette, complete with a mini fridge and a table and chair to fit two. A half wall was between that and the bedroom area. A bed set up ready to go, a closet, arm chair, dresser, and flat screen tv on the wall made up this small area. "Wow, this is nicer that my own house." I said making my way around. Reno had walked in and was leaning against the wall. I look on the left side of the room to see my own bathroom with walk in shower.

"Yeah, nicer than my apartment too. But anyway, you can keep whatever you need here, extra clothes, booze, whatever." He said.

"Booze?" I asked with a smirk.

"Well, yeah, you never know. What else are we going to do if they make us stay the night here," He said with a shrug. "Come on, I'll show you mine."

He lead the way the room beside mine and almost identical to mine, only messier, you could tell someone was living here.

"Kinda mess." He said walking in.

I shrugged my shoulder, "I've seen worse." It was quiet for a few seconds. "Do you seriously come here after drinking?" I had to ask.

"Well yeah, I mean, it's closer than my apartment from the bar, and I don't have to worry about being late and hungover."

He did make a good argument. "Valid point." I said with a slight laugh in my voice as I made my way back to the hall.

"Shall we?" He said as we started to the stairs to the last floor.


	8. Chapter 8

Comments, criticisms, questions, or anything, I love it all.

* * *

"Aaaand we're back to the tenth floor," Reno said as we entered and walked past the secretary to the only other room I haven't been in yet, "And this is our own slice of paradise." He held the door open for me.

Within the small room were four desks split into two rows, both on each side pushed together so the desks were facing each other. Also in the room was a room at the back left hand.

"Here you have Elena's and Rude's desk on this side," and he motioned to the left side of the room. "Yours truly right here," he said as he pointed to a desk on the right before sitting on it. He leaned over and patted the only other desk left in the room. "Which leaves you with this desk. Your lucky, you know."

I walked up to my new desk and placed my bag in the seat before going back and standing in front of him. "Oh? And whys that?"

"Your desk has the best view in the place," he said, pointing to himself.

I crossed my arms and rolled my eye, giving him a playful smile.

"That room back there," he pointed and I turned to look, "That's Tseng's office."

And as if on cue, Elena marched out of the room, looking exasperated. "There you are,Reno," she said, almost like a mom talking to an unruly child, "Where have you been?"

He put his hand up to silence her, "Excuse me, Elena, but I am conducting a tour here." Her anger broke into embarrassment when she realized I was standing right there.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry," she turned to me and put her hand out "I didn't see you there. Sorry, I'm usually not this bitchy." I shook her hand and heard Reno make a 'Tsk' noise. "It's just working with a child can be... exhausting," she finished as she stared down Reno.

"Yeah Tseng can be like that," Reno said, looking at his nails.

"Ignore him, in fact, don't even talk to him. That's what I do," she said before going to her desk. "Anyway Reno, I have been trying to get a hold of you, why haven't you been answering your phone?"

"Uh, let see, because I left it in my desk," he said, still barely paying attention to her. "It would be unprofessional to be on my phone while at work."

"Oh bull-"

"Anyway, what else is there to tell you..." he said as he turned his sights on me. "Hmm, oh. Above us, on the rooftop is the helicopter pad. That's my baby up there. I fly it, no one else."

"Except when you're not on the mission..." Elena chimed in, not looking up from her computer.

"Okay, I fly it when I'm on the mission. But there's no other better pilot around than this guy," and he pointed to himself again.

I gave him a slow nod, "Cool," was all I really could say and I sat next to him on my new desk.

"What else," he put his hand on his chin, classic thinker pose. "Um, Tuesdays and Thursdays are training day. We go to the training room and do some work, you know, stay fit and what not. Also don't eat at the cafeteria here unless it's pizza, that's really good. And lastly, Elena and Tseng are banging." He said the last part so nonchalant that it took me a second to realize what he just said.

I let out sort of breathy chuckle, completely surprised.

Elena's mouth dropped as she slowly turned her head to us. "Reno!" She grabbed her head, slightly pulling her hair. "Oh my god, I cannot believe you!"

"What?" He shrugged his shoulder, looking confused as to why she was upset. "Not like she wouldn't find out anyway. You guys can hide it, but you don't it very well."

She let you a heavy sigh, calming herself down and shaking her head before turning back to her work. "Anyway, Rude called you, you're supposed to call him back."

"What did he want?" Reno replied.

"I don't know. Something important, that's why I was trying to get a hold of you," she said curtly.

"Alright fine, I'll call him back," he picked up the phone and started dialing a number but slowed at the first couple number and turned to me. "Shoot, we forgot to get your medical stuff done, guess I can't take this call Elena," he said giving me a childish grin.

She gave him a "fuck off and die look." "Call him, I'll take her down," she got up and started to the door.

"Wait, no," he tried to stop her but she was already out of the room. "Balls."

I gave him a shrug and followed her, "Have fun with the phone call," I said as I gave him one of those small waves you give people as you walk away.

"Oh a blast."

I shut the door and Elena was there waiting. "Sorry again," she started, she appearance was a lot more calm, "It's just that he really knows how to get on my nerves."

"It's understandable," I replied, brushing off the whole situation.

We got in the elevator and in entered awkward silence. I figured I had to say something, "Soooo-"

She stopped me from continuing, "Don't worry, he's single."

I turned and looked at her, confused as to what she was talking about, "What?"

"Reno," she looked back, just as confused as I was. "Wait, you weren't asking if he was, you know, single?"

"What, no, no, no." I let out a chuckle, "No, I was going to ask about you and Tseng."

She laughed as well, "Oh, I just assumed."

Assumed? Why would she assume that? I decided not to push the issue. "Anyway, I was just going to ask, how long have you guys been together?"

I watched as a smile break on her face and a slight blush, "About 2 ½ years."

"That's cute," I said as I walked out of the elevator and onto the medical and science labs.

It was all pretty basic; height, weight, blood pressure and urine sample to make sure I wasn't on any illegal drugs. After about a half hour, we were clear to leave with the okay for me to work.

We made our way back to the top floor, Elena talking about sometime when I looked at the time.

"Oh shoot, it's 1:53, I need to go down and meet up with the tailor," I said as started going the opposite direction, "I'll meet up with you later."

She asked me if she wanted her to go with me, but I assured her I had it under control. I didn't have wait long in the lobby, within seconds of entering, a man who appeared in his late 50s approached me and after exchanging introductions, he led the way to his store to get my uniform.

I sat down in a chair and he started filling out a paper for my measurements, "First things first, pants or skirt?"

Skirt? I didn't even know this uniform had that option. My obvious answer was, "Skirt."

He turned to look at me with a gentle smile, "I've been doing the Turk uniforms ever since they started, and you're the first to even pick skirt."

I shrugged my shoulders as he mentioned me to get up and he started taking my measurements. Within the hour he had my uniform ready to go. The standard white blouse, black tie, and black jacket, finished off with a pencil tight skirt that ended inches above the knees and a pair of black pumps.

"Wear that for today, and I'll have the other uniforms sent to your home address."

I shook his hand and walked back to HQ. I figure I'd save some time and get my ID myself rather than bothering Reno or Elena with it. It was almost 4pm when I entered the office again.

When I closed the door, Reno turned around and dropped his jaw. "I must say you pull off that uniform really, really well." He got up from his chair and circled around me, looking at me up and down. "Elena, why didn't you get the skirt?"

She looked over briefly, "Because I can fight better dressed in pants."

"Whatever," he grabbed my arm, "Lets go get that ID," he said and started to pull me to the door.

I went with him for a few steps. "I already got it," I said, waving it in his face.

"Attractive and independent," he said "We so got the perfect person for this job."

I let out a laugh before my thoughts were broken by the door in the back of the office, connecting to Rufus's office opened and Tseng and Rude walked in.

"How as Junon?" Elena said, standing up.

"Yeah, that info I give you help any?" Reno asked.

Tseng shook his head, "Someone broke in to one of our old labs and stole about everything that they could."0

"Files mostly, but a lot of our "top secret" and highly classified work." Rude said, sitting at his desk.

"And Rufus?" Reno asked, his hand still on my arm.

Tseng eyed the pair of us, "It would be best to stay out of his way for awhile." He walked over to me, shook my hand, "Welcome aboard, I'm sure Elena and Reno got you up to speed on everything."

"Yes sir they did," I replied.

He nodded, "Good, anyway, everyone, Rufus's office now."

I looked up at Reno who put his hand on my back as we started walking forward, "Great."

We all marched in slowly, Rufus looking out his back window, "Those files, we need to get them back." He turned around and looked at the set of us. His eyes fell on me, "You look good," he said before turning his attention back to the subject at hand. "Any hands these files fall in is the wrong set of hands."

"What's the plan?" Tseng asked.

"There isn't much we can do, we need to wait until we get some leads, but until then stay on your toes." We nod as he dismissed us.

I finally sat at my desk for the first time ever. Reno across from me. "Two hours left til we can leave," he said, "Like it here so far?"

I sat there and thought for a second. I finally nodded, "Yeah, I really do," and I flashed him a small grin.


	9. Chapter 9

While the first day seemed the start of something exciting, it started to fizzle away slowly. Three weeks ended up going by with nothing but paper worked shoveled on to each of our desks.

"I hate you, you know," Reno said as we left the building for the day.

"Well, aren't you sweet," I replied, walking side by side through the parking lot. "But please, tell me why."

"Because, you finish your paper work early everyday, giving you the rest of the day to do whatever," he said, stopping as we both reached my car.

I sat on the back end, "What can I say, I'm a fast typer," I told him with a shrug. "And besides, if you want me to, I'd do some of yours. Just ask"

"Well, aren't you a nice girl," he said smiling at me. "So what's you plans for your day off?"

Again, I shrugged my shoulders, "No plans over here, probably just end up cleaning and unpacking my fall clothes. What about you?"

"Absolutely nothing," he said, joining me on the edge of my car. "By the way, I've been meaning to tell you, you have a really nice car."

I scoffed, "Yeah, it's nice. Worst decision of my life."

He turned and looked at me. "Oh, and why's that," he inquired.

I shook my head, "It's just when I bought it, I had planned not to run into money troubles. So now I'm just stuck paying for it for quite sometime."

"Ah," he nodded understandingly, "I know what you mean."

We lost ourselves for a while, talking about pointless things, but was only normal. It became a habit of ours over the past three weeks, we would just hang around after work, talking and just chilling.

"Ugh, what time is it?" I asked, wrapping my jacket around me tighter. It didn't feel like we were talking and joking around that long, but before I knew it, it was dark and a chill was hanging in the air.

"8 pm, well 8:03 to be specific," he said and looked at his watch.

I jumped off the back of the car and stood in front of him. "That's a new record for us. But alas, I should probably getting going."

"You know what you should do?" he replied.

"Go out to the bar with you and Rude, I know," since I started working, this was about the third time they asked me to go down to a bar called Seventh Heaven.

"I don't understand why you won't," he said.

"Next time, I promise," I told him as I crossed my heart.

He got off my car and started to walk to his bike, "I'll be holding that to you."

I nodded, "See you Monday Reno."

"Last box, then it's bye-bye summer," Tidus said, packing up the rest of the clothes.

"Why can't it be summer all year round," Kalie said, pouting at sundress she was holding.

"Move to Costa del Sol," I said bluntly while hanging jackets up in my closet. "I can't wait to wear all my fall and winter gear."

Winter was hands down my favorite season; I turned into a child at the sight of first snow.

By now, it was only 6 in the evening, but I was beat and ready to get bed.

I let out a long yawn.

"Tired so soon?" Tidus asked.

I nodded, making my way to our kitchen to get a drink. I was midway there when my phone went off.

"Hello?"

"Hey Annie, it's Tseng. We need you to come in tonight," he said pointedly.

"Alright, when do you want me in?"

"Be here at least by 8, no later," Tseng informed me.

"Alright, see you then, bye." I hung up the phone as Tidus handed me a drink.

"I don't think that's the best idea," I told him as I pushed it away.

He raised his eyebrow at me quizzically; "They want you in this late?"

"Duty calls, man," I said, heading back up to the second floor. "I need to be there by 8, that's enough time for me to shower and what not."

I arrived back at the building by 7:50 and headed straight up to the offices.

"What's up?" I asked Reno when I walked in.

"Not a clue, but it interrupted my busy day off," he said to me.

"Busy? What the hell did you have planned? Last time we talked you said nothing," I laughed at him.

"Well, yeah. But still, I was right in the middle of a move marathon," he informed me.

I couldn't help but laugh harder at him. Before I could reply though he said, "You look nice."

I gave him a puzzled look, "It's the same uniform I wear everyday."

"Well, yeah, but your hair...it's different."

There was nothing different about my hair, but I appreciated the effort. I gave him a soft smile, "Thanks."

The door opened and in walked Rufus. "We have a lead as to those missing files. It appears those files were the files of Hojo and Hojo's assistance. Both died nearly 2 and half years back, but there is reason to believe that if we search his assistance home, we may come up with something. At dawn, depart and search his place. Stay the night here."

"Dawn? Why so early sir?" Tseng questioned.

"His assistance, Pulski, lived in the town of Firon, which has since been abandoned and a ghost town for about 4 fours. It's crawling with monsters, the best time would be to go then."

He left briefly after giving us a few more notes and we made our way down to our rooms.

I slipped out of my uniform and heels and into capri sweatpants and a tanktop. I crawled into bed and was just about to turn my light off when there was a knock on the door.

"Dammit Reno," I murmured, knowing exactly who it was.

I opened the door and he was there leaning against the frame. He had a grin that faded as he looked down at me.

"What?" I asked.

He let out a laugh, "You're a lot shorter without heels on."

I folded my arms and gave him a cross look. Of course I was your typical girl with self-esteem issues, and yes I was short, but I hated it when people brought it up.

"Thanks, man," I said, walking away from the door. Reno wasn't far behind me.

"Oh, shit," he started, "I didn't mean it in a bad way, yo."

I waved him off, "Forget about it, it's just a "thing" with me," knowing he meant no harm.

"It's a good thing though, trust me," he said, sitting at my table. After a giving him a perplexed look he started to explain. "See, guys like girls in heels, guys also like to be taller than girls."

"Go on, " I said, sitting across from him.

"Most girls that put on heels then become taller than guys, not cool. Instead, when you put on heels, I still taller than you."

I shook my head, "So I'm the perfect height as long as I'm around you?"

"Exactly, and like I said before, I'm the only person that matters," he said, standing up. "Now come one, drinks, my room, now."

I bit my bottom lip, "I don't think so."

"Annie, it's only 8:30," he grabbed my hand and started to pull me up. "Just a few drinks, you, me, and Rude.'

By this point, he had dragged me to my door, "Alright, one drink."

He handed me a drink as soon as I entered his room. I drank that and another bottle as we shared stories and killed time. I was barely feeling a buzz by the time I looked at the clock.

"Well, it's almost midnight, I'm going to call it a night," I said and I stood up. I started to leave, but before I reached the door Reno stumbled in front of me.

"Noo, one more," he held up his finger and leaned in, nearly falling over. I grabbed a hold of him, "One more drink, then I'll walk you home," he said, slurring his word. He was plastered; he was downing drinks like it was his job.

"You'll walk me home? All the way next door?"

"It's a dangerous world for a pretty girl like you," he said, shoving a drink in my hand.

"One more under one condition," I said as I led him to a chair to sit.

"Anything for you."

"You stop drinking," I took the drink he gave me and finished within minutes. "I'm out, I'll see you guys later."

I started to leave but Reno staggered towards me, "Wait up," he called out. I turned to see him follow and Rude depart for his room. "What did I tell you, dangerous place. A lot could happen in this hall, and I'd have myself to blame."

I laughed at him as I entered my room, him right on my tail. He sat on the edge of my bed. "You have a really comfortable bed," he said.

I put my head in my hand, trying not to laugh at Reno. "It's the same exact bed as yours, man," I told him while I went to the bathroom. When I came back out he was passed out on it.

"Reno?" I walked over to him and gently shook his shoulder. He let out a mumble and rolled over. "Reno?" I tried again, and bit more sternly, but he was practically in a coma and there was no hope. I couldn't help but chuckle and grab a blanket to lay over him.

I looked at him for a few more seconds, trying to figure out what to do. Waking him up didn't work. I could always sleep in him bed, but I dismissed that idea, feeling it would be a bit intrusive. I settled for making myself comfortable in the armchair by the bed.

* * *

I woke to a knock on the door and Tseng giving me wake call through it. I rubbed my eyes and slowly sat up. I blinked a couple of time, realizing I wasn't in my room. I looked around and spotted Annie curled up in a chair. I smiled, vaguely remembering the events of last night. Not like anything happened, just the three of us drinking and joking around. I walked up to her, she look so cute asleep. Kneeling down, I gave her a gentle shake. She slowly woke up and stretched her arms.

"You could have woken me up," I said softly to her.

"Trust me, I tried," she said with a small laugh. She got up and tried to crack her back. Her face contoured in pain, leaving me feel bad knowing it was because of the position she slept in.

I watched her as she grabbed her uniform and headed into the bathroom.

* * *

I put my skirt and blouse on and touched up my makeup, knowing showering wasn't really an option since we were leaving soon. When I walked back out, Reno was sitting on my bed, flipping through the television channels.

"Anything good on?" I asked him as I slipped my heels on.

"Not a single thing, not this early anyway," he said before turning it off.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" was my follow up question. I walked to the sink to pour myself a glass of water.

"I'm a man, it takes me five minutes to get ready." I laughed at his statement before taking my medication and down the water. My back was killing me from sleeping like that, and I tried again to get the kink out of it.

"Here, let me," I heard him say, coming up behind me and putting his hands on my shoulder, giving me a message. I swallowed the lump that had just formed in my throat and my started stomach fluttered. I felt like a teenage girl again, something I didn't like considering I was a grown woman. But at the same time, had it been anyone else, I'd have stopped them, but it was Reno and it was good.

"Lower," I said in almost a whisper. He obliged, moving his hands further down and I felt him push his body closer into me.

"How's that," he ask, leaning close to my ear.

I want to say good but I just let out a moan.

It wasn't long after that when there was a knock on the door and Elena voice was heard through it, "Hey, I supposed to tell you five minutes."

I let out a sigh. "Alright" I said, slipping away from Reno and saying to him "Looks like you have just enough time then to get ready."

I held my door open for him, ushering him out and finished getting ready.


	10. Chapter 10

It was still dark when I finally went up on the roof to the helicopter. It was quarter till 6 and dawn was approaching. Reno was already up there, doing some work on the copter. "So, this is your baby?" I said, coming up beside him.

"Yep," he turned around and looked at me, wiping his hands on a rag. "Ever ridden in one of these bad boys?"

"No actually, it's rather exciting," I said, balancing on the back of my heels.

He turned and looked at me, "What to learn how to fly it?"

I looked up at him, his face anticipating my answer, "I mean yeah, sometime."

He gave me a pat on the back, "Someday when work is slow, I'll have you flying this is no time."

"Reno, the chopper ready to go?' Tseng ask walking up to us.

"Yeah, ready to go when you're ready, yo,"

The ride wasn't that long, Reno and Rude flew; Tseng, Elnea and I were in the back. We land on the out skirt Firon. The sun was just above the horizon and it cast a creepy shadow on the already eerie ghost town. Walking through to the main square, we kicked up dust that had settled over the years.

"Alright, here's how it will work, Elena and I will take the west half of town, Rude, Reno, and Annie, take the east. Pulski's address is 683 Belzer Road. Call me if you find anything and watch out for the monsters," Tseng told us as we made sure we had all our equipment in order.

We went our separate ways and after searching streets and a couple homes, so far we came up empty handed.

"No Rude, I'm telling you we already went down the street," Reno said, as we walked, I strayed behind ever since they began their little quarrel.

I rolled my eyes; we had been walking in circles and obviously have been lost for the past half hour.

"Reno, that will lead us back to main square," they both stopped, causing me to nearly walk into them.

"No it won't, it'll lead us to the far side of town, you know where we need to go, yo"

"Oh for Christ sake," I mumbled. I circled around them, not pay attention and started scooping the area.

I rounded an alley kicking a rock, while their arguing got further and further away from me. I leaned against a wall and let out a heavy side. First mission out and it was a bust. Or maybe I spoke to soon. I looked down at the ground and something caught my eye.

"Hey guys," I called out, making my way back to them. They were still in the middle of the argument. "Guys, guys, I found something," I said, breaking them up.

"What'd you nab?" Reno ask, the two of them turning to me.

I held the flash drive I found on the ground in front of him.

"A junk drive?" he said.

"Why is that of any importance to us?" Rude asked.

"Well," I started, figuring they would be just as excited as I was, "It was in the alley, not cover with dust or anything like everything else around here is. Not to mention there weren't these 4 years ago when this place was abandoned."

Reno took it from my hands, "Which means this had to have been left rather recently," he said as he eyed it up. "Good find little lady," he grinned at me.

My small victory was cut short by an explosion towards the west. We all turned towards it, watching as the fire climbed and smoke rose.

"Shit, yo," I heard Reno say as Rude's phone went off.

He flipped it open and put it on speaker, "Tseng, Rude here."

He was breathing heavily on the phone when he answered, "I ran into a problem when I entered Pulski's home. Listen, I don't have time to get into it, just get to the chopper, the whole town is rigged to blow in ten minutes. I'll meet you there."

We looked at each other for a split second before running back to the copter. Within 2 minutes we got there and Tseng was staggering behind us, obviously injured. Rude and Reno ran over to help him over; "Dude what happened," Reno was the first to ask.

"Someone caught me off guard and stabbed me, I didn't get a look at him. I'll be fine," he said as they lifted him in the copter. "He ran off, but not exploding Pulski's house and detonating the rest of the bombs through out the town."

I looked around; surprised no one else had noticed the one thing that was glaringly apparent. "Where's Elena?" I blurted out.

They all looked at me, terror flashing through Tseng's eyes, "You mean, she isn't with you?"

I shook my head slowly, "No."

"We split up before I was jumped but she answered when I told her to vacate now." He said, getting up, trying to go back in. Rude pushed him back down, us all knowing he didn't have the strength.

Time was ticking away and making a plan would just waste what we had left. I didn't bother consulting with them and started running back into town.

"Annie, wait!" Reno yelled after me. The first explosion had awoken many of the monsters and the further I went into town, the more that stalked me.

I stopped in the middle of town square, trying to figure out which way to go.

"My god you can run fast in heels," Reno said, catching up with me. I turned and looked at him just in time to see a creature jumping to attack him.

"Duck!" I yelled, pushing him out of the way with me. We rolled out of the way together as I pulled out my sword and killed it in a swipe.

"Come on, we're running out of time," and I ran down a street to the left, Reno keeping a close pace to me. We ran through another intersection as a giant bird swooped down at us, raising my sword, I went to attack. But instead, my inner klutz I had been able to suppress finally emerged as my heel got stuck in a crack, sending me down to meet the pavement. My sword went skidding across, but not for long. That damn bird swooped down, grabbing it with it's talons and few off with it.

I let out a sigh and cursed myself, dropping my head.

"You okay?" Reno asked, crouching down to help me up.

"Yeah, fucking birds," I said, getting up and brushing myself off. I looked around, doing so to gather my thoughts, but instead I saw a body in a black suit lying on the ground. I let out a gasp and went running towards Elena.

"Looks like she's just knocked out," I said, kneeling next to her. "You carry her, I'll cover you?" I asked, reaching up my skirt and grabbing my gun out of it holster.

"Yeah, " he said, snapping his head towards me when he heard me cocking the gun. "Woah, where'd you whip that out of?"

I look at him like he was stupid, "My inner thigh, where else am I going to keep it?"

He shook his head in amazement, "I swear to god, you astonish me more with everyday."

"Well snap out of it, we're running low on time," I said getting up and shooting some monsters that crept near us. Once he had a hold of Elena, we made our mad dash back.

We were so close, Rude had the copter blades spinning, all we had to do was get in and go. And then I saw it, that fucking bird, sword still with it, practically mocking me. "I'll be right back," I said as Reno put Elena in the copter.

"Wait, no Annie. We've got to go," he yelled over the sound of the blades.

"5 minutes, it's my favorite sword," I yelled back.

"I'll buy you a new one! There's only 2 minutes left!"

"Plenty of time, just get the chopper up, I'll get on, no worries!"

"Fucking birds," I mumbled running towards, aiming my gun as it started to fly away. First shot, a miss. Second shot, clipped it's wing. I went to shot again but instead my gun just clicked. I pulled out another clip of bullets to reload it. My heart was racing and my hands were shaking. When I went to reload the clip fell to the ground.

"Dammit," I said picking it up, 1 minute left. I quickly put the clip in and aim at the bird, shooting it dead center in the head. It dropped to the ground as I grabbed the sword. While kneeling beside it, I spotted something black and rather out of place. Bigger than another flash drive, and when I picked it up I realized it was a wallet and upon opening, I found something much more interesting.

I was running the fastest I'd ever had, knowing I was almost out of time. The helicopter was up in the air, a ladder was hanging for me to climb up. Reno had the door open, yelling at me to hurry. He hoisted me up once he had a good grip of my hand.

I rested my head on his shoulder, panting hard, completely exhausted. Reno gave Rude a thumbs up, keying him to go. "Never do that again," he said putting his head on mine. I laughed as I wave the wallet in his face.

He slipped it out my hands, looking through it, confused at first, but then smiled. I reached over and slid the door to the helicopter close just in time as the bombs went of and we flew away from the explosion


	11. Chapter 11

"So let me get this straight," Rufus said, annoyance stinging in his voice, "Not only did you not search Pulski's house, but there was an unknown person that you let get away. And you let one of your fellow commands get injured and nearly killed in the process. And now, not only is Pulski's house destroyed, but the whole town."

"He caught me off guard, it was a lapse in judgment and it will never happen again," Tseng, now bandaged up, said, trying to defend not only himself, but also all of us.

"That's not an excuse, it shouldn't have happened in the first place," his voice shook as he tried keeping it from turning into a yell. "It's a failed mission and now our only lead has been reduced to rumble. It's your asses on the line," he finished pointing at all of us.

"Well, not necessarily," I piped up bravely, stepping forward.

"Annie," Reno whispered, putting a hand on my arm. I know he was only doing that so I didn't have to feel the wrath of Rufus, but I was a big girl.

"Excuse me," Rufus said, casting his gaze down on me.

"Well, we were able to obtain a couple of things," I said, pulling the flash drive and wallet from my pocket. As soon as we landed, there was a rush to get Tseng and Elena to the infirmary that we had no time to show Tseng what we found, and by the time he got out we were hurried to Rufus's. I set the flash drive down on his desk first.

He picked it up, eying it before looking back me, "And this is?"

"A USB drive, for files," I replied, now I was starting to clam up, my bravery was slowly slipping.

"And?"

"Well...judging from the amount of dust that wasn't on it, it could only mean that it was dropped rather recently. All we have to do is take it down to the computer geeks on 6th to hack it open."

His anger faded and he looked interested, "You think whoever was there also dropped this?"

"No," I answered, "I think someone dropped it before today and came back to look for it, who then also dropped this," and I held up the wallet.

"What's in it?" he asked.

I opened it and took out the license in it, "The ID of one Mr. Pulski."

It was quite for a second as Rufus thought.

"That's impossible, Pulski was murdered by Sephiroth, we all saw his dead body," Tseng interjected.

"And you're completely right," I said, turning to him, "But his son wasn't," I finished, flicking the ID on Rufus's desk.

"It makes sense," Reno explained. "I remember Pulski, the older one, was always bringing his son around. He has to our age now," he said pointing to himself and me, "Also, he was huge science nerd, he was in college for forever studying. Hojo was his idol. If anyone was going to steal his work, it'd be him."

I handed the rest of the wallet to Rufus, who was still studying the ID.

"Rude, Reno, Annie- go to the address on his license. See what you can find," he threw the ID back at me. "Tseng, go spend time with Elena back at the infirmary and rest up."

The three of us exited the room, "And Annie saves the day," Reno said holding up his hand for a high five.

I slapped Reno's hand, who then pulled me into a hug. I let out a laugh and pulled away and Rude slapped me on the back, "Saved our asses." He responded.

We quieted down when Tseng joined us. He nodded at me, "Well done." He said before heading off.

We made our way to the helicopter. "Oh god, it's already 2 pm, looks like we won't be getting home til late," Reno said with a stretch.

"So where are we going?" Rude asked me.

"Uh," I said looking down at the license, "Rocket Town."

"Does it really count as Rocket Town," it was more of a question I was thinking, but I said it out loud as we walked into town, "I mean, there isn't a rocket anymore."

"Good point," Reno said, "They should really change it."

We continued walking through, until we finally reach Pulski's house.

"Of course, our luck would be that it's the house furthest from where we came from. All this walking today is cramping my style, yo" Reno complained.

I looked at him, "You complain when you're not on a mission, you complain when you are on one. Is there no pleasing you?"

"Oh I'm always pleased. As long as you're here with me," he said with a smug smirk.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up, and besides walking's good for you," I quipped back, going to open the door. "And, of course, it's locked," I said, trying again.

"Here, stand back," Reno said, backing up a bit before running shoulder first into the door, trying to break it open. He stumbled back, trying to suppress yelling in pain from failing at his plan.

"Yeah, that was smart," I said as I watched him sink to the ground and rub his shoulder. Kneeling beside his, I pulled the collar of his shirt down to check out his shoulder.

"I think it's broken, what do you think?" I glanced up at his face which was smiling at me and had a joking look on it.

I pulled his shirt back up, "I think you're an idiot," I told him before getting back up.

"It really hurts, you should kiss it and make it feel better," he said, looking up at me from his place on the floor.

I crossed my arms and stuck my tongue out. I jerked my head when the sound of broken glass interrupted us. I turned to see Rude breaking a small window by the door and reach in to unlock it. "Ready?" he asked us.

I nodded as I gave Reno a hand and helped him up.

We slowly walked in, not happy with what we found. "You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Reno yelled as it echoed through the empty house. And when I say empty, I mean empty. The place was stripped clean, leaving wires hanging and the floors bare.

"Looks like someone left in a rush," I said, opening the fridge to see food still in it.

We started searching, checking everywhere to see if we could find something.

"Seriously, I think we're out of luck, they made sure not to leave a thing," I said walking down from the second floor.

"I have to agree, the basement was swept clean, floor to ceiling," Reno said as we all met up on the first level.

Rude let out a sigh, looking around. "What about out there," he said, nodding to the back yard. We made our way out to a tool shed that was back there.

I put my hand on the rusty handle to the door and turned back to look at Reno and Rude. "Go for it, yo," Reno said. I gave it hard pull as it creaked open. I stood in the opening, looking in at the dusty, dark room full of tools.

A step in was all the further I got, a figure came running out of a dark corner and hurled me to the ground, running past Reno and Rude, on his way to escape.

"Stop!" Reno yelled, pulling me up from the ground before chasing after him with Rude.

I stood there for a split second, processing what just happened, before searching around me. Looking at the floor, I found a pipe and picked it up.

"Move!" I yelled at Reno and Rude. They turned and got out of the way as I threw the pipe low to the ground. It hit him just as I plan in the legs, tripping him up.

"Nice shot," Reno said as he waited for me to meet up with him. We both walked back to Rude, who had the guy pinned to the ground and cuffing him.


	12. Chapter 12

It was Wednesday now. So far, Elena was release from the infirmary yesterday, just a minor concussion and a few starches. The USB drive so far has been unhackable. And we left the man we apprehended in a jail cell for a little less than two days. Now it was time to interrogate him. We all stood in the observation room, looking in through the two-way mirror at the man sitting in a small room with nothing but a metal table and chairs. Classic detective show interrogation room.

"Well, if no one else wants to, I guess I'll question him," Tseng said as he made his was to the room.

"No," Rufus stopped him, "Let's see how our newest fairs." He turned to me, I tried to keep a calm composer, but on the inside, I was kinda freaking out.

"You'll do fine," Reno said, slinging him arm around my shoulders.

"Just ask a few basic questions," Rufus said, "Get his name, why he was there, who he works for, what Pulski has planned, and why they took those files."

I nodded my head, and headed to the door to the other room. "Oh, and one other thing Annie," Rufus said to me. I turned to face him, "Dispose of him when your done."

"Dispose?" I knew what he meant but I just had to be sure, "You mean as in-"

"Don't be afraid to get messy, we do have cleaning crews here...is that a problem?" he asked, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Not at all," said, flashing a smile before heading into the room.

* * *

I was nervous for her. As she walked into the room and sat across for the guy we captured, I remembered my first time. It's not easy; you have to be confident and quick-witted, ready for anything. It's harder than those TV shows make it look. I had my fingers crossed for Annie, but I still was worried it might be too much for her. Prior to this, she hadn't seen one or had any training for it. Plus she was instructed to kill him. I know she's tough, but killing a man is something different, and if this was her first time...well it can really take a toll on you.

"What, no good cop bad cop?" the man asked as she sat down.

She let out a soft chuckle, "No, just me today."

"Oh? So pretty cop then."

"What a creep," I mumbled as I watch through the window.

"That's funny, he sounds like you," Elena said.

Rufus threw us a look and shushed us both up.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Annie said to him. "So I've got a few basic questions, think you can help me out?"

"I'll see what I can do," he replied, leaning back in his chair, being cocky a fuck.

"Let's start with a name," she said, leaning forward on the table.

"I'm not telling you shit," his cocky demeanor shut down as he turned defensive.

"Why not? I just want your name, can't you at least give me that?"

"What are you going to do, you don't scare me. You want answers, you're going to need to get someone that isn't a toothpick in here."

She got up slowly and walked around, sitting on the table next to him. "Fair enough," she said had a certain intimidating demeanor right now, and I could tell she knew what she was doing. It was as if she had it all planned out in her head. "I'm just curious...hypothetically speaking of course, if you did work for Pulski, why you were there? Obviously he's up to something big, and instead he has you snooping around, doing jobs that...well frankly an idiot could do. Aren't you insulted? You work for him and he has you doing jobs that are made for peons."

You could tell she struck a nerve with the guy. He looked up at her and with out saying a word, spit in her face.

I was surprised that she just sat there and calmly wiped it away. While she was doing so, he brought his hand up and gave her a hard smack across the cheek. "Bitch," he spat at her.

I made my way to the door, I don't know why, but that fired me up. Had it been anyone else, I wouldn't have cared as much but...I don't know, I just felt the need to beat this guy's ass.

"Wait," Rude stopped me. I look back in to her grabbing him by the collar of the shirt and pinning him against the wall, spinning herself so her back was pressing against in him. She took one of his hands, grabbing his index finger. "Look, you want to play hard, we can play hard. What's your name?"

"I told you, I'm not telling you shit."

"Wrong answer," she said, bending his finger back. The cracking of bones breaking filled the room as the man screamed in pain. "What's your name?" she asked again, grabbing a hold of his middle finger, all this time her voice remained calm, as if she does this daily.

He was quite for a few second; Annie pulled his finger back slowly. And at the last moment before it broke, he finally talked, "Alright, alright, Kevin, Kevin Ting." She let go of him and walked away.

"Very good, I'm assuming by your outburst I was right about you working for Pulski, right?" she said turning towards him. He had now slid down to the ground holding his hand in pain.

"Right?" she said raising her voice.

He nodded his head, "Yes."

"What do you do for him?"

"I was hire to do lab work for him, but since I was hired, he has me doing odd jobs."

"Like on Monday. Why were you there?"

He swallowed hard, "He knows you guys are onto him, he had me make sure everything was pack and moved away, there was nothing else left there. To be the last to leave."

"Where was it moved to?"

"I have no idea, I wasn't told."

"What Pulski's next step? What does he have planned?"

He shook his head, still on the floor, "No, I promised I wouldn't tell."

I watched her as she pulled something out of her pocket. "Look," she walked up to him, sticking the blade of the knife she pulled out in to his mouth, pressing it against his cheek. "You can tell me now, or I'll make sure you won't be able to tell anybody anything ever again, not even in hell."

Fear flashed through his eye, "Please," he said muffled. She took the blade from his mouth, "I don't know much. Like I said, I do odd jobs for him, I haven't even met Pulski yet."

"And?"

"All I know is that when we were cleaning his house out, his assistant was there. He told one of the workers there that because you guys are after him that the plan was to hide out and lay low."

"Lay low where?" she asked, taking off her jacket and putting it on the table.

"I don't know, Pulski has it set up that all his workers work from home. We don't have a headquarters or anything, only the people really close to him meet with him, then if he has a job for us, they get a hold of us."

"If you do his dirty work, why was he in Firon?"

"Because he wanted to do it himself, he was pissed that someone dropped the files, so he wanted to take care of it himself."

"What is he doing with these files?"

"I don't know, I honestly don't know."

She put her blade under his chin, "What is his plan?"

"I don't know," he said again.

"What do you know?" He remained quiet. "I'm losing patients," she said annoyed. She looked at him before throwing a punch to his face. She pulled him back up and taking the knife, flicked it across his cheek. "You have five seconds to tell me something that will convince me to let you live."

"No! Please, I have a wife with our first child on the way," he said, grabbing onto her skirt, starting to cry and beg.

"Then tell me something good," she said.

"Okay okay, I do know one thing. His assistance said something about looking for Hojo's lost files."

"Lost files?" Annie questioned more to herself than the man begging in front of her. "What's his assistance name?"

"I only know his first name, Eli."

"That's good," Rufus said, over the intercom to her.

She walked away from him and stood in front of the mirror. "Get up, you look pathetic."

"She's not going to do it, is she?" Elena said.

Looking at Annie, I think Elena was right, as soon as he said he had a wife and a kid on the way, she obviously turned soft. "He played the family card, I'd be having a hard time killing him too," I said to Elena.

"Boy or girl?" Annie asked.

"What?" Ting questioned.

"Is your wife having a boy or girl?"

"Uh, a boy, we named him Austin," Ting said, he started to relax and had a meek file.

"Cute," Annie nodded looking at the knife in her hand. And then it happened so fast, it caught me off guard. In a split second Annie spun around, throwing the knife straight and steady, hitting him deep in the neck.

Ting stumbled back, grabbing his neck and the knife stick out of it, gasping for breath.

Annie walked up to him, he fell to his knees. "See, if you hadn't called me a bitch, I probably would have let you lived."

She squatted in front of him, "Oh don't worry, you have a son that can learn about the terrible things that happened to his daddy. Then he can avenge your death. Then I'll kill him too." She stood up and pulled the knife from his throat, causing blood to spray out onto her blouse and skirt.

Ting fell to the ground, bleeding out and only have a few second left as Annie left the room and joined us.

She threw Rufus a thumbs up, "Good?" she asked him.

"Like a pro," he said.

She nodded and left without a word.

"Take a break, then meet in my office," Rufus said to us as he left the room.

We all started our way up but Tseng stopped me and held me back, "Go check up on Annie, see if she's alright?"

I nodded and went off in the direction she headed.

I rounded the corner to see her heading to her room. I knocked on her door and after a few seconds she said to come in. I opened the door and she was taking off her tie and unbuttoning her blouse, leaving it hang open to revile a black tank top under it.

"Hey," she said, not bothering to look up.

"Hey," I walked up to her and bent down so I was at face level with her, "You okay? You left rather quick."

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she said, finally looking at me. She walked away and went to her dresser to grab some clean clothes.

"Well, I mean, killing a guy can be a pretty hard task, and the first time is always haunting."

"First time?" She turned and looked at me. Shaking her head, she continued, "Reno, I have just as much blood on my hands as your, if not more."

I guess I never thought of that, I mean Wutai training is brutal and they practically train you to be an assassin. But it still didn't answer why she was being distant. "Oh, well I was just checking, you seem kinda off."

"I'm just thinking, what the hell does "lost files" mean?" she said, pulling out a skirt.

I leaned against her wall, "I donno, probably files that are lost." She turned and looked at me, obviously getting my sarcastic remark. "Hojo had a lot of secrets, many that Shinra will probably never know about."

She let out a scoff, "Yeah, I guess. Aaaand of course I wouldn't have a clean blouse."

I let out a soft chuckle, "You can have one of my dress shirts, hold on," I said leaving to get her one.

"So what are we doing now," she said taking the shirt from my hands when I came back in.

"Break then a meeting with Rufus," I said to her as she went into her bathroom to get changed.

She said nothing else and I waited for her to get out, looking around her room before throwing myself on to her bed.

My phone let out a ring and I brought it to my face to answer it, "Yo, man."

"Where are you?" Rude asked.

"With Annie, why?"

"Hurry up and get up here. Five minutes." And he hung up.

I let out a sigh and got off her bed. Without even thinking I open the door to her bathroom.

"Most people knock, but I like your style," she said to me.

I didn't say anything, I was rather speechless. There she was, standing in nothing but the dress shirt I gave her, sleeves rolled up and the shirttails ending just below her hips. Pretty much a guys dream right there.

"Uh- sorry, um" I tried saying something, but words failed me.

She looked at me with a sort of smirk of her face before giving me a gentle push out of the room, closing the door.

She came back out within seconds, looking like her old self.

"Lets go," she said to me, leading the way, while I was still trying to find my voice.


	13. Chapter 13

First I wanted to thank all the encouragement I'm getting. I really appreciate it and just hope you guys continue to enjoy.

* * *

It's been two months now, making it near the end of November. And when Ting said they were going to lay low, they weren't messing around. Pulski and his men went off the radar and our only lead, those lost Hojo files... it was like chasing a ghost. Rufus had us searching all of the old Shinra buildings, going from city to city. We were tearing apart any place he could think of that could possibly hold those files. I guess they weren't lying when they said they were lost.

"Where else, does anyone have any ideas?" Tseng said in our office. He was standing in front of a chalkboard with a list of locations, nearly all had been checked off. "We've been to Rocket Town, Nibelheim was a bust, and... we're running out of options."

I turned away from him, facing towards Reno. He had his head in his hands; he rolled his eyes at me and mouthed the words, "Fucking boring."

I nodded my head in agreement.

"Where's Elena?" I asked, it was nearly noon and she hadn't come in.

"She wasn't feeling well. Took a sick day." Tseng said, not turning away from the chalkboard.

"Tsk, I should have done that," Reno mumbled before dropping his head on his desk.

Yeah, maybe we should have been more into this, but lets face, the first few weeks of busting down doors and searching abandoned buildings and offices lost it's luster quick. This was the process: go to the location, search, come up empty handed, then set up a security field so we could monitor the area later to see if anyone tried to break in in the future. Now though, for the past few weeks, we ended up sitting in the office, in front of this chalkboard trying to find a new place to search.

"Look," Reno said, his voice slightly muffled by the desk, "Let's just put this case on the side for now. Pulski and the gang are sure to make a move soon. Instead of wasting our energy doing nothing, let's just chill until they make their move."

Tseng turned and looked at him, " You can break it to Rufus that that's the new plan then."

Reno brought his head back up and let out an audible groan.

"It's just feels like we're slowly sinking," I said, backing up what Reno was saying.

"We're not sinking, we've already sunk," Rude said, eyes fixed on the list of locations we've traveled to.

"Exactly," I agreed.

"Sunk?" Reno said, more to himself.

I looked over at him but brushed him off as Tseng started talking, "We can go Icicle Inn, go to Professor Gast's old house, maybe we-"

"That's it!" Reno yelled, his voice echoing in the room. He jumped out of his chair and his body was full of excitement.

We all looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "What's it?" I finally asked.

"The sunken Gelnika, that's what," he said triumphantly and crossed his arms.

I shook my head, "I don't follow."

"Gelnika, a Shinra transport plane. It was shoot down by the Ulitmate Weapon back when the all that went down. But what makes you think that those files would be on there?" Tseng explained.

"Seriously?" Reno said, slightly crushed, "It makes sense, when all that was happening we loaded that plane with to the brim with the weapons and monsters designed to kill Sephiroth. And not only that, but a lot of Hojo's files to get them out a Midgar so Hojo or someone else couldn't get them. It was shot down right before it was supposed to land to drop off those files."

"Even if those files were there, that was over two years now, that plane has to filled with water if not completely destroyed form the wear of the ocean," Tseng said.

Reno put his hands up, "Okay, maybe. But what else do we have to lose? We either waste a day looking in the ocean versus sitting in the office staring at each other."

Tseng was quite for a while, "Okay, go get the chopper ready, I'll tell Rufus where we're going."

* * *

"Oh my god, I'm so exited!" I said, my heels clicking out of time on the wooden docks in Junon, as I was practically skipping.

Reno laughed at me, "I couldn't tell, you haven't told me like a million times since we landed."

I stopped and turned towards him; Tseng and Rude were steps in front of us. "Sorry, but how can I not be, I've always wanted to ride in a submarine!" I said walking side by side with him. I stopped again and grabbed his arm, saying with hope "Think they'll let me drive it?"

He laughed again and put his arm around my shoulders, "If they don't let me drive it, what make you think they'll let you?"

We met up with Tseng and Rude, Reno sliding his arm off me. We were standing outside a ship bunker; there was a small river that flowing into it and a gate so no one could get into the bunker through the river. Tseng punched in a number on the security keypad, allowing us in.

We entered the sub, Tseng and Rude taking the controls, leaving Reno and I to ourselves. They opened the gate and we were off.

"There you are," I heard Reno come up behind me. I decided to explore the sub since we had hours to kill.

"Look at this," I pulled him into the room I was, it was a bedroom that housed about four people and had a small kitchen and bathroom, all in the smallest space possible. We were cramped together, "It's like a small house! Someone could live here!"

He let out a chuckle, "Yes, but I think the more pressing issue is why are you so excited?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I donno, it's something I've never experienced. And that's always exciting." I looked up at him and he had a smirk on his face. "Don't smirk at me," I said, giving him a jab in the shoulder before walking away.

We reached our destination as Tseng docked with the Gelnika. Reno opened the door as we all looked in. The floor of the airplane had a shallow covering of water, but besides that, it was intact.

"Look at that, perfect, that's Shinra's finest right there," Reno said.

Tseng walked away from us, "You two go search, Rude and I will stay here."

Reno was the first to go in and I followed him down the ladder.

"Here," I heard him say as I was steps away from reaching the water covered ground. He grabbed me by my hips and lifted up to help me down to the ground.

My plan was to turn around and say thank you, but instead there was an instant shock to my system. "Oh my god," I said, barely able to get the words, "This water is freezing!" The water covered my feet completely and went up to my bare calves. I ran out of the water and up the steps to a dry level.

Reno laughed at me, sloshing his way out of the water and towards me.

"Okay, plan," he said when he got beside me, "We should stick together, the monsters down here are pretty nasty."

I nodded as we walked through a corridor and into the cargo bay.

We searched the top area before going down the steps to the bottom. There were barrels and crates to search through, and for the next hour or so, we rummaged through them.

"Yes, wait... yes, yes! Annie, come here" Reno yelled, waving me over. I looked up from the stack of papers I was looking at and saw him pull out a crate.

I ran over to see him wipe off some dust that had covered up the label that said "Top Secret: Hojo."

I look at Reno with my mouth open, "You did it man," I said, kneeling beside him. He cracked it open and his face dropped.

"Oh no, no no..." he whispered as he started pulling his fingers through his hair, staring into the dark crate.

I looked inside and pulled out the only thing that was in it. I read it out loud, "Dear Shinra, if you're looking for Hojo's files, it appears you're too late. Better luck next time, Pulski. Ps, meet me at the old reactor in Gongaga on November 24th at noon, I have something for you."

"Goddammit!" Reno yelled, getting up and kicking the crate hard into the wall.

I backed away from his freak out.

"So close, we were so damn close," he yelled and he paced. "I mean, fuck Pulski! I hate that guy-"

"Reno..." I said, trying to stop him but he continued his rant. I swallowed hard as I saw a giant monster fast approaching us. "Reno," I said again, but it didn't stop him. "Reno!" I yelled, finally getting his attention and he turned and looked at what I was staring at.

"Holy..." he whispered. He backed up grabbing my arm. "...run," he said before we took off for the stair. The monster jumped over top of us and blocked out way. We skidded towards a stop and Reno pulled me toward the space under the stairs with him.

"What the fuck is that?" I asked, never seeing anything like that in my life.

"Uh... a Shinra experiment that apparently transformed over the past couple of years into a big nasty." He said, getting out his electro-mag.

This unknown looked like a flower and the Grim Reaper fucked and this was their messed up child. It was giant and had huge set of teeth and quite honestly scare the living daylights out of me.

"Okay, wait, it looks like it's leaving" I said calmly as it walked away from us, losing interest.

We poked our head out from beneath the stairs to check to see if the coast was clear. We took a few steps out, being cautious. "Well," Reno started, turning towards me, "We might as well head back to Tseng and Rude, there isn't much else here."

I nodded, looking up at him; my eyes widened as the monster obviously hadn't left and was right behind him. "Reno!" I yelled, but it was too late. The unknown had a tentacle up and was bringing it to attack him. I instinctively pushed Reno out of the way, taking the hit. It struck with such force, I flew in the air and slammed hard against the wall and dropped into a pile of crates. My vision went fuzzy as I watch Reno run towards me. His face was close to mine, his voice calling my name, but it sounded so distant. And then everything was black.

* * *

I wasn't scared of much and nightmares didn't come often to me. But there I was, my eyes flying open, my body sitting straight up, and my breathing coming out heavily. I sat there for a second in the dark, trying to gather my thoughts and closing my eyes tight. It wasn't like the dream has some deep, dark seeded meaning, but it just frightened me. Reno and I, we were down in that underwater plane but it was so much more surreal, and we just opened that crate when that monster attacked...but I couldn't save him. I knew that thing would give me nightmares.

My eyes were still closed; my head was in my hands. I gasped as I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulder.

"Annie?" I heard Reno's voice.

I finally opened my eyes back up and looked at him, he was sitting beside me on my bed, his hands still on me. "Reno," I let out in a whisper before reaching over and giving him a hug. "Wait," I said pulling back from him, "Why are you..." I stopped myself, looking around. I was going to ask why he was in my room, but I slowly realized I wasn't in my room. "Where am I? What happened?" I asked, I couldn't remember what happened after we found the note and after that monster creeped up on us.

"A hotel in Junon. That monster knocked you out cold," he said looking at me. My breath was still coming out heavy. "You okay?" he asked, rubbing my arm.

"Yeah, just a bad dream," I said, brushing him off. "So what are we doing now?"

"Feel the fury of Rufus tomorrow and that's about it," Reno whispered to me.

I let out a sigh, knowing that was going to be full of fun.

"So, I take it after I passed out, you didn't find anything else?" I asked him.

He shook his head, "No, I got you out of there as soon as I could. Those monsters...they've grown a lot stronger since the last time I was there."

I let out a chuckle, "A lot scarier too," I said thinking back to my dream.

I ran my hand through my hair, looking down at my lap.

"Hey," Reno said, grabbing my chin lightly and pulling it up to look at him, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" I asked, genuinely puzzled. I studied his face, and for the first time since I've known him, he looked heartfelt and sad at the same time. A side I had never seen.

"For letting you get hurt," he said.

His face was mere inches from mine. It would have been a perfect situation, but I couldn't. I turned away as he made the slightest move to lean in. Okay, yeah I liked him, but I just couldn't. I wasn't ready to take that step, I was afraid to reach a place with him where I couldn't turn around. I threw myself backwards onto the bed and rolled over to face him. Reno got up from my bed and turned around to make his way over to his. "Thank you," I said.

He turned and looked at me with a confused look, "For what?"

"For saving me," I said, giving him a smile.

He reached down and gave me a squeeze on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll always be there to," he told me before lying back in his bed.


	14. Chapter 14

"'Ps, meet me at the old reactor in Gongaga November 24th at noon, I have something for you."" Rufus read the note out aloud before crumpling it up in his hand.

"November 24th? Well that's two days from now," Elena said, stating the obvious.

"What do you want us to do," Tseng asked.

"Do what he wants us to do," Rufus said, standing up and walking to a table at the side of his office. "Meet up with him Thursday at noon," he told us as he poured himself a drink.

"With all due respect sir-" I started but Rufus cut me off.

"I said, meet with him Thursday at noon," he said slowly and bitterly, articulating every word. He swallowed his drink and dismissed us.

I rolled my eyes and sat at my desk, crossing my arms. "I don't trust it," I said shortly.

"Huh?" Reno asked, sitting on my desk.

I dropped my shoulders and sighed, "Isn't it all a bit suspicious? I mean the guy's just stepping forward and being like "Hey, I know you have 5 Turks that could kill me in 10 different ways in a second flat, but why don't we have a little get together, it'll be a blast!"" I said, sarcasm oozing from my voice. "I don't know, it just sounds like a trap," I finished and leaned back in my chair, crossing my arms again.

Reno looked from me to the ground, thinking hard.

I let out a sigh another and combed my fingers through my hair.

"If this is a trap," Reno said, still staring at the floor, "Then at least we'll have an idea, we can at least be on edge for it." He looked at me and I nodded at him.

* * *

It was 11:30 by the time we landed outside Gongaga. It was 11:45 by the time all 5 of us reached the busted reactor. I still wasn't partially thrilled but like Reno said, at least both of us could be prepared, being sure to equip and arm us properly. The sky had broke way and finally it started to snow. I groaned inwardly, having to be stuck on this mission instead of enjoying the fresh snow.

As we walked closer, a figure of a man came into focus. His back was facing us but you could tell he was wearing a lab coat.

"I was afraid you wouldn't get the note," the man said as he turned around.

Tseng stopped, causing all of us to do so also, "You aren't Pulski," he said.

"And you aren't Rufus. I'm Eli," he said stepping towards Tseng and offering his hand.

"Your Pulski's assistant," I said, putting my hands on my hips. The snow was falling steadily now.

"You're new, aren't you? I haven't seen your face around," he said walking up to me to get a better look.

Reno step in front of me, "What do you want?" he asked him.

"Well, I'm not happy," he said, pacing in front of the group of us, hands clasped behind his back. "See that note wasn't for you guys, but for Rufus." He ran his hand over his hair, smoothing his sleeked brown hair back.

"Do you really think we're that stupid?" Elena asked him.

"No, I think you guys are just stupid enough. And I guess it's true what they say, you have to make the best out a bad situation. I still can take you guys for ransom at least," he said and snapped his fingers.

We all went into battle stance as a swarm of nearly 20 men with guns and armor surrounded us.

"Do you like?" Eli asked. "It's no where near Shinra's old army, but we don't want to become cocky like you guys. No just enough to protect us and carry out what needs to be done."

"Fuck," I said, gripping my sword tight, my back pressed against Reno's.

"So you have a choice, you can come with us, or we can shoot you dead here," Eli said, circling around us. "Either way, I still have fun."

"If we go with you, you'll just kill us anyway," Reno bitterly said.

Eli smiled at us, "Yes, but until then we can use you for leverage."

I took a deep breath, formulating a plan in my head. By now I had counted the number of shooter, 23 plus Eli.

"I have a plan," I whispered in Reno ear.

"Please, do share," he whispered back.

"Don't die and cover your eyes," I said as I took off running towards the circle of armed gunmen. I brought my sword up and down onto the neck of one, leaving 22 now left.

"Shoot her!" Eli yelled, as bullet's started after me.

Ducking behind a pile of metal from the broken reactor, I caught my breath as the bullets pounded the metal. Reaching into my jacket, I pulled out a flash bomb, throwing it over the metal and closing my eyes. After the boom and the flash I opened my eyes and stood up to see the gunmen rubbing there eyes, temporarily blinded from the blast. Pulling my gun, I shoot 4 in the head, and the rest of the team had gotten to work to help me fight the rest of the attackers. We were down to 2 left when Eli called off the attack. They started to run but I aimed my gun and one by one taking them down. I aimed at Eli, having him on target but Tseng gently pushed my arm done. "Leave him go," he told me.

I let out a sigh as we made out way back to the helicopter.

"What the?" Reno said as the copter came into view through the snow. "Shit, no!" he yelled and started running to the helicopter that was now being started. As we ran closer it started taking off and at the controls were two men that were dress identical to the ones we just battled with. Under the copter now was Eli hanging from the rope ladder they had down.

"What, you didn't think I would send all my men after you? No that would be stupid incase you did kill them," he let out a laughed, climbing up a little. "And besides, it looked like the plan work."

"Plan?" Reno yelled over the roar of the helicopter trying to jump for the ladder, but it was just out of reach for him.

"Well, we have a lot of the essentials we need. Shinra's files, some old Shinra employees, were on a way to a good company. One thing was lacking, in order to get the job done, all we needed was a good mode of transportation. It's rather a drag having to use public transportation. This helicopter will be perfect. The only thing better was if you guys didn't have Little Miss Kick Ass here, then you would have fallen for our trap completely and we would have had hostages too." He yelled, pointing to me. "But I guess this will be enough. Bye!" He finished smugly, climbing up into the copter.

Reno started chasing after it as it flew off, throwing rocks and yelling profanity at them.

"Dammit, dammit dammit!" he yelled, falling to his knees and pounding the ground with his hands.

I knelt down beside him and rubbed his back with my hand. "Now what," I asked, looking up at Tseng.

He shook his head. "The only thing we can do is make our way to Costa del Sol, it's has planes we can pay our way on or at least ships to get to Junon," he said looking off into the distant.

"But how do we get there?" Elena asked. "We can't walk, not in this weather anyway."

She was right; the snow was falling harder and had started to accumulate on the ground.

"Let's go to Gongaga, at least for the night," Rude suggested.

Tseng nodded, "Right, we can find some way to get there, maybe a train or something."

* * *

"There's a train that comes through here everyday at 8 am, looks like we're stuck here til then. That's is unless Tseng, Rude, or Elena can find something else," I said to as I walked into the inn room we rented. Reno was already in there, sitting and staring out the back window.

I sat down in a chair and let out a sigh before looking up at him. "Are you...crying?" I asked him, looking at his worn face.

"What? No, don't be stupid," he said, turning his head away from me to see.

I felt bad, I may have only known Reno for a few months, but the way he talked about the helicopter and the spark he got in his eyes when he got fly, I could tell he loved that thing. I got up and kneeled next to him, putting my hands on his thigh, "Reno, I promise you, we'll get it back."

He looked down at me, I rested my chin on the back my hands that were still on his leg.

"Thanks," he said, giving me a smile, "And I wasn't crying," he told me, tapping me on my nose with him finger.

I stood up and walked around the room

"So, we're stuck in this shanty town for the day," Reno said, stretching his arms.

"Looks like it," I replied opening drawers to the dresser in the room to see if there was anything in them.

After finding nothing I turned back to Reno who had gotten up from his seat. "Come on, lets go check out the weapons shop here."

I looked through the glass case at the small display of throwing weapons they had.

"Why is that sword your favorite?" Reno asked, examining the dagger he had picked up.

"What?" I said, turning towards him and leaning on the display.

"Way back in Firon, remember, that bird stole it and you had to risk your life to get it back," he told me, refreshing my memory.

"Oh yeah," I let out a laugh.

"Is it a family treasure or something?" He asked, putting the dagger down and looking at me. "I remember one SOLIDER who wouldn't use his sword because it was a family heirloom."

"No, far from...family," I said, whispering it almost. I waited a few seconds before I continued, "The pagoda challenge in Wutai, you know, where you have to fight the bosses on each level?" I said to him.

"Yeah, sounds familiar."

"Well, I defeated it and beside the regular royalties you get with it, since I was the youngest to every conquer it, I got that sword which was said to be the perfect sword ever crafted, made from an emperor's old precious metals, and blah blah blah," I explained, waving it off.

"So it's a pretty special sword huh?" he asked.

"Yep, it's a pretty big deal," I said, sauntering up to him.

"How old were you?" Reno questioned.

"13."

"13!" he exclaimed, his eyes widening.

I shrugged my shoulders, "Yeah, but anyway, beside the whole reason to why I got the sword, it is a really good weapon. Balanced, sharp, all that jazz. It's lasted, what? 14 years almost."

"I'm still amazed you did that at the age of 13," he said as we walked out of the shop. It was dark now and snow had stop falling. It had fallen at least 4 inches and covered my feet, telling me it was time to start wearing boots.

"Hey Annie," Reno said.

"Huh?" I said looking at him in time to feel a snowball hit me in the neck.

I let out a scoff as my jaw dropped in surprise, "You jerk."

He put his hands up, "You love me."

"Yeah, this much," I said scooping up some snow and throwing it right in his face.

I crossed my arms and gave him a triumphant smile.

"You know, allow me to be the bigger person, let's call a truce," he said, cleaning his face off.

I shook his hand that he held out for me and started walking back to our inn. Within seconds of turning my back towards him I felt his arms wrap around my waist and pick me up in the air.

"Reno!" I yelled, trying to make it sound like a warning but it came out as a girly scream. I started kicking the air trying to get him to put me down but instead it cause my one heel to fly off as he spun me.

"Oh you cunt!" I shrieked as he threw both of us down into the cold snow.

"Language young lady," he said to me, rolling over to look at me.

I lay there panting for a little bit before sitting up. I looked down at Reno and flung some more snow in his face.

"Thanks, yo," he said, nodding his head sarcastically.

"You deserve it," I said smugly, both of us sitting in silence for a while.

"I have a question," he said to, rolling back on his back, putting his hands behind his head and looking at me from the corner of his eyes.

"Shoot," I said looking up at the sky.

"What's the deal with you and your family. You never talk about them and in the store, when I mentioned your family, you got quiet. Why?"

"Well, to be fair, you don't talk about yours," I said, looking over at him.

"Yeah, but, that's different," he said looking up at the sky.

I let out a laugh, "How is it any different?"

"Because no one cares and it's not important," he said, shrugging his shoulders.

"I care and I think it's important," I said, lying back down in the snow. "So tell me."

"Well," he said, trying to find the word, "I never knew my dad and my mom and I never had a really good relationship. I haven't talked to her since I was 15." He kept his eyes focused on the sky, only looking down at me when he finished.

I felt awful, I had a soft spot for boys that had a rough past like that, "Reno, I-I'm sorry, it must have been rough." I sat up and looked down at him still lying there.

He cocked his eyebrows up, "Yeah, but, it's whatev, yo. So, I shared, your turn," he said, nudging me in the arm.

"It's no big deal really now, they were killed when I was barely even a year old," I said, brushing it out like nothing.

"No big deal?" Reno said, sitting up quickly. "What the- that's terrible, I'm so sorry."

"What?" I asked, "No seriously, I'm totally cool with it." Cool with it? That was long shot, but after about 27 years, I've learned to act nonchalant towards the whole thing. I always pushed it out of my mind, and yeah, maybe that's not the healthiest thing, but it's been getting me by.

I looked over at Reno, his face look concerned, "Seriously, I don't even remember them, and beside if they hadn't died then I would have been shipped to the only orphanage available at the time in Wutai. And had I not gone there, I wouldn't have been put in their training, then I wouldn't have become the person I am today and then I wouldn't be here laying in the snow with you," I said to him, giving him a warm smile, and truly meaning it.

"You never know though," he said to me, smiling back, "I think we were bound to cross paths."

"And with that said, if the children are done playing, I suggest heading to bed since we need to be up early for the train," Elena said, walking up to us and handing me my shoe.


	15. Chapter 15

"Rockin' the curls today!" Tidus said as I entered the kitchen.

"I'm way to tired to fuss with a straightener this morning," I told him, pouring some coffee and taking my pills.

"You look good, how long has it been since you went all curly on us?" He was way to energetic for me this morning.

"Not since before I worked at Shinra, now shut and be tired like a normal person," I said, sinking into a chair. It was 4 in the morning when I finally stopped tossing and turning in bed and fell asleep. Even then I kept waking up every hour until I finally gave up at 7:30. I held my head in my hands as I tried to get my eyes to focus.

"Goddamn, I really don't want to wear my glasses today," I said with a sigh.

"Let me guess, you have yet to wear those to work either," Tidus asked, standing behind me and putting his hands in my shoulders.

"Shove it," I mumbled, but he was completely right.

"I don't know why you hate them, they look good on you," he said, walking out of the room. It's not that I hated them; it's just that I'd rather not. I mean, luckily I only had to wear them when my eyes were having trouble focusing, like right now.

I ran my hand through my hair, pulling out my phone to check the time. I took me a few blinks and a rub of the eyes to finally see straight. Yeah, glass would be a must. I finally read that it was half past 8, Monday, February 14th. 14th? Great.

"Is it seriously Valentines Day?" I said, nearly going limp in my chair.

"Uh yeah, appears so," Tidus said, walking back in and looking at the calendar.

I let out a groan, I strongly disliked Valentines Day. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I had some terrible Valentines Day blunder or a boyfriend that did something dreadful to me in the past on this day. To be honest, I just never had a boyfriend on Valentines Day, no one to acknowledge or to be acknowledged. At age 27, it just got annoying to see people be all lovey dovey for a day. It was to the point of disgust.

"Wanna get shit faced after work?" Tidus offered.

"Deal," I said, getting up, "I'll see you later." Today was going to be a rough day.

* * *

"You're here early," Elena said, walking into the office, being the only one in besides myself.

"Yo," I said, not looking up from the papers I was filling out.

She sat at her desk as was quiet for a moment before asking, "Who left Annie flowers?"

"I donno," I shrugged, still not looking up; I could feel her eyes boring holes into me.

"Oh. My. God. You didn't!" she exclaimed, perking up in her chair. "You did! I never thought I see the day when you would buy someone flowers on Valentines Day, or just in general buy someone flowers," Elena said walking up to me.

"Elena, I didn't leave her flower," I said, turning in my chair to face her.

"Oh, then if you didn't, who did?" She asked, leaning into me.

I didn't say anything and chewed the inside of my lip.

"I knew it! I can read you like an open book when it comes to Annie," she said clapping her hands.

"Elena I swear to god," I started, pointing a finger at her and rising in my chair slightly, "You tell anyone, I will kill you, no one can know, not Annie, not even Tseng."

"Okay, okay, calm down, cross my heart," she said with a smartass smile.

I let out a sigh, settling down and looking at the flowers, "Do you think she'll like them or do you think it's tacky?"

Elena let out a chuckle, walking away, "Reno, trust me, all girls like getting random flowers. Unless she's heartless...which actually Annie might be."

"She's not, trust me," I said, still looking at the flowers.

"You know I was only joking," Elena said, quieting down as Tseng entered the room.

"Morning," he said.

"Good morning," Elena said as he entered his office and shut the door.

"What did he get you," figuring I should ask to stay on her good side.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she said, giving me a cheesy smile.

I pulled a disgusted look, "You two are gross," I mumbled.

"Where's Rude? He's usually here by now," she asked me.

"Sister's wedding," I answered.

"His sister's getting married today?" she asked, pressing the issue.

"Actually, got married. The wedding was yesterday, but it was in Costa del Sol, so he's stayed there for the night and won't be getting back til later today probably," I explained.

"Rude's sister, who would have guessed," she said.

"Rude has a sister?" Annie said, walking into the office.

"Yeah," I said to her, "Even more surprising is that she could get married. Trust me, I've seen her and she is not much to look at."

* * *

I let out a laugh when he said that, leave it to Reno to always brighten my days. I started pulling my coat off and midway I notice flowers on my desk. "Who left these?" I asked.

I finished taking off my coat and put in on the back of my chair, all while staring at a dozen red roses in a crystal vase.

"I donno," Reno answered, not looking up from his computer. "Elena, do you know?"

I peered over at her through my glasses, "Nope, I didn't see who left them."

"Weird," I said, sitting down and flipping the tag that was hanging from the stem of them over and over again. It said nothing besides "Frank's Flower Shoppe."

"Why? Do you hate flower?" Elena asked getting up and waiting for my answer before leaving the room.

"No," I said with a chuckle and a smile, "I've just never gotten flowers before." I'll admit, I had a strange warm feeling inside and I could kinda understand why people act the way they do on Valentines Day.

"Wait," Reno said, setting his sights on me, "You've never gotten flowers before?"

"Nope," I said, shaking my head.

"I find that hard to believe," he pressed on.

I laughed, "I wouldn't lie to you about being a girl that can't even get flowers."

He bit his bottom lip and leaned in as close as he could with out leaving his chair. He studied my face, causing me to blush and avoid making eye contact with him.

"You have glasses on today and your hair's curly," he said slowly.

I scratched the back of my head and let out another laugh, "Yeah, I'm a mess, if whoever gave me these flowers saw me today, they'd so take them back."

He gave me a disapproving look, "Why do you say stuff like that?"

I raised an eyebrow at him and shook my head.

"Anyway," I said, pushing that topic aside.

"I wasn't done," he said "I brought it up for a reason."

Now I was really confused but he continued, "I just wanted to tell you that you look really nice, even if you don't think so. But I think so, and I'm the-"

"Only person you need to worry about," I said with him, "I know, you tell me that nearly everyday," and I gave his a laugh.

Tseng walked out his office and headed right to Rufus's, "Rufus wants us now."

I rolled my eyes and pointed two fingers to my head, pretending to shoot myself.

"You and me both," Reno said, getting up.


	16. Chapter 16

"Years ago, there was a scientist that worked here. After going through some old records, it seems he worked closely with Hojo and Pulski. He and his family died nearly 30 years ago, but his house has since been empty and standing. Right before he died, his wife had a son, so for about year he worked from home. With that said there is reason to believe that we may find something there." Rufus said, handing a file to Tseng, who looked at it briefly before tucking it under his arm.

"Where's this place at?" I asked, chewing on my nails slightly. Reno gave me a nudge and a look to stop. I scowled at him playfully, it was a habit of mine, and Reno always tried to stop me.

"Outskirts of Kalm, which is good, within driving distance," he answered.

Ever since the copter was stolen, we'd been stuck at the office mainly. Pulski was up to something, but as of late, nothing that was public or anything we could find anyway. And a new copter wasn't in the budget for awhile, so we were left in Edge, and if we did need to go anywhere, we had to take a plane, train, or boat. This was the first mission since that it was close enough to drive.

"Might I volunteer Annie's car if there's going to be driving involved," Reno said, raising his hand.

I snapped my head up to look at him, "What? No way, why my car?"

"What? You suggest we fit all of us on my bike? Besides, your car is sweet," he said easily, like it was common knowledge.

"He does have a point," Elena backed him up, "Tseng's car only seats two and I walk to work."

"But-" I let out a sigh, knowing there was no winning to this scrap, "Fine." We walked back into the office, me walking to my desk and bending over to dig my keys out of my bag. "I don't want to drive," I mumbled.

Reno, being the only other one in the office at the time, looked up from grabbing his coat and said, "I'll drive it."

"That's quite alright," I told him, twirling the keys slightly and sliding my arm into a sleeve of my coat.

"Why don't you want to drive, bad driver?" he asked, sitting himself on top of my desk. I swear he sat there more than he sat at his own desk.

I pulled my coat up on my shoulders and started to button it, "No, I'm a perfectly fine driver. There are just certain aspects of driving that I fear people criticize me on."

He gave me a puzzled look, "Like what?"

"Music selection mainly."

"Music selection?" he said, a smile and a laugh breaking from him.

"You can tell a lot about a person by the music they listen to. Plus it can make or break how they see you," I said, matter of factly.

Reno nodded, "Okay, yeah, I will agree with you there. But I'm telling you now, Tseng will probably want it to be quiet."

* * *

"Know how to get to Kalm?" Tseng asked, as we piled into my car.

"Yeah, I know my way there," I said starting it up.

"Good," was all he said as he reached over and turned off my music.

I felt Reno poke me on the left shoulder, knowing it was an "I told you so," move.

"God, what a dump," Reno said as we got out of the car and I hated to admit it, but he was right. The house was boarded up and graffiti painted the outer walls.

"I'm surprised it still standing," Tseng added before turning to me, "You wouldn't happen to have a crowbar?"

"Yeah," I said softy, staring. For some reason, I got the chills, and it wasn't from the cold and the snow, but from this rundown house.

"Helloooo, Gaia to Annie," Reno said, waving a hand in my face.

I blinked and shook my head, "Oh right, crowbar." I pushed whatever I was feeling out of my mind and pulled the crowbar from my trunk.

"So, what did these people die from?" Elena asked as Tseng and Reno pried the wood from the entrance.

"Car crash," Tseng grunted, pulling off the last piece of wood.

One by one we entered the house. Had it not been for the dust and everything being faded, it would have look like people still lived here. The place had everything in it, pots and pans still on the counter and newspaper left on the kitchen table. The living room had blankets messed up on the couch and a bottle on the coffee table. It was as if this family's life was interrupted, like they left for work and just never came back. And there again was that chill. I rubbed my arms, wandering through the first level of the house by myself.

"Cold?" Reno asked.

"Huh?" I turned around to face him, catching me off guard.

"Here," he said, wrapping his winter coat around me.

"No, I'm…" but he stopped me and shook his head.

"There doesn't appear to be anything here. You two check the top floor, Elena and I will search the basement," Tseng said, appearing behind Reno.

"Check those rooms, I'll get these two," I said as we reached the top of the steps.

I opened the first door, it creaking as I walked into the bathroom. I sighed checking the drawers and finding nothing.

I went to the second room, turning the doorknob and pushing it open. 'Of course, I'd get the kids room' I thought to myself.

I looked around the room, finding nothing, but still...something wasn't right. I pulled Reno's coat closer to me, I just had an unsettling feeling that was growing in me.

"Find anything?" Reno asked, coming into the room.

"No, you?" I asked, looking at the crib that was covered in dust and cobwebs.

"No luck," he said, walking up next to me.

"I thought Rufus said they had a baby boy?" I asked, picking up one of the stuffed mog lying there.

"Yeah, why?"

"Because," I said softly, walking away from him, "This is clearly a girl's room."

"I donno," Reno said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and shrugging his shoulder, "Maybe they got it wrong in the file."

"Yeah…maybe," I said, setting down the mog and picking up a framed photo that was on a bookshelf there.

My heart stopped as I realized the picture looked familiar, and not in a good way. I had to ask, "When, exactly were these people killed?"

Reno took in a sharp breath, trying to think back to the file he got to read in the car, "27, no 26. It'll be 27 in a couple months."

My blood ran cold, and shut my eyes and took a deep breath.

"What was their name?" I finally asked, begging the answer to not be what I thought it was.

"Tusnick? Yeah, pretty sure that's what it said."

My heart sunk, my breath caught in my throat. It felt like someone punched me right in the stomach. I kept my eyes closed, trying not the confirmation on my worst fear get to me.

"You okay?" Reno asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded my head, "Yeah," I said, turning towards him.

"Sure?"

"Positive," I told him giving him a smile.

He nodded his head but I could tell he didn't believe it.

I walked back down, meeting with Tseng and Elena.

"We got nothing, you?" Elena asked.

"Not a thing," Reno said, right behind me.

We walked out of the house, down the steps of the front porch and stood in front.

I stared at the house, this boarded up, run down house, not paying attention to the conversation of what to do next that was going on beside me.

Tseng mention about him doing something and Elena doing another thing. "Annie," he said, snapping me away from my thoughts, "You and Reno burn down the place. There's some gasoline cans down in the basement," Tseng said to us, walking away.

"Can do boss," Reno said, making his way back to the house.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "What, no we can't do that," I said, everyone turning to look at me.

"And why not, this place is no use to us, presidential orders," Tseng clarified.

I opened my mouth to refute but realized I was getting my emotion mixed into my work, "Sorry, your right, I wasn't thinking clearly."

Reno and I doused the place in gasoline before meeting back out front. "You sure you're okay, I don't think I've ever seen you like this," he asked gently.

"Yeah…just…tired, long night yesterday," I said, flicking a lighter and throwing it at the house. Within second the place was aflame and we were driving away.

* * *

"Thanks," Annie said, handing me my coat back as we entered our office.

"Anytime," I said back, she barely looked at me as she sat at her desk. Usually I get peppy Annie with a smile anytime we talk.

"When'd you get back?" I asked Rude as I hung my coat on my chair.

He looked from Annie to me, "About an hour or so ago."

I nodded before looking back at Annie, she was holding her head in her hands.

"Hey," I said softly, kneeling beside her. She looked down at me; her eyes looked heavy and dull. "Why don't you go home, I'll cover for you if they ask."

She stayed quiet for a while, battling inside on whether or not to leave. "Right, yeah, good idea, thanks," she whispered, grabbing her coat and getting up.

She then left without saying another word.

"What's wrong with her?" Rude asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, getting up from where I was and to my desk. "I donno, she was fine earlier. I guess the mission we were on spooked her."

He nodded his head understandingly, "How was that?" he asked, referring to the mission.

I leaned on my desk; the last thing I was thinking about was the mission. "A bust, found absolutely nothing."

"What was it about?" Rude continued.

I was thinking about Annie, and what could have caused her to act like that. "Uh, a house of some guy that worked for Shinra, died about 26 years ago, him, his wife and their one year old daughter."

Rude nodded, turning back to his work.

I sat there, thinking about it all, and then it hit me. It was a long shot, but it had to be the reason, it all made sense.

"I gotta go," I said, rushing out of the office.

"Wait," Rude called after, "What if Tseng asks?"

I ran back in, hanging in the doorway.

"Oh shi... Tell them I went to…" I stopped and thought, looking around the office, my eyes landing on Annie's desk. "Tell them I went to give Annie her flower that she left," I said, grabbing the flowers and running out the door.


	17. Chapter 17

I slowed down, looking at the street numbers, recalling Annie's address I looked up before leaving the office.

"104, 106, 108, " I counted to myself until I arrived at house #116.

I parked my bike and pulled out the flowers, cringing slightly when I saw that they got smooshed in the rush to get here.

I sighed, walking up on her porch and knocking on the front door. I tapped my foot as I waited rather impatiently.

The door creaked to open up to a man, about my height with short brown tousled hair, dressed in dress pants, dress shirt with a tie that was loosened. It was obvious he has just gotten out of work. "Yeah?" he asked, staring at me to the flowers.

"Uh, I need to talk to Annie, she does live here right?" I asked uncomfortably.

He eyed me up and down, taking a second before asking, "You work with her?"

"Yeah," I said slowly, what was this guy's deal?

"You can go see her," he finally said.

I stepped forward to try to go around him but he stopped me, putting both hands on the doorframe and leaning in towards me, "Before that though, what happened man?"

"What do you mean," I asked, taking a step back.

He let down his defenses, " I mean Annie, I haven't seen her act like this is a long time." He stepped aside, letting me in and shutting the door. "She stormed in, didn't say a thing, and was smoking cigarettes like it was her job, which says a lot since she quit that habit about a year ago. And when I went into her room to ask her what was wrong, she told me to 'get the fuck out,'" he finished crossing his arms and leaning against a wall.

"Yeah," I said, "That's kinda why I'm here, I was hoping I could talk to her."

He nodded his head, "Right, maybe you can knock some sense into her." He started to walk away, pointing up the stairs to my left, "Uh, up the steps, second room on the left."

I nodded, and made my way to her room.

I took a deep breath and opened the door. I looked around and took a few steps in. Annie was facing away from me, her uniform still on, rummaging in the drawers of a dresser, a cigarette loosely hanging between her fingers.

"That was you house," I said.

She stopped what she was doing. "What?" she said after a few seconds of silence.

"The house we went to, that was your house...well not yours but...you know what I mean," I said, walking closer to her. "You were the Tusnick's child, you didn't die with your parents."

She stood up straight, taking in a long smoke, her other hand hold a piece of paper.

She turned around slowly, bringing the piece of paper close to her chest before walking over and sitting on her bed.

"The first time I've been home in over 26 years and I burn it down. Years I wondered what my house would have looked like, years I craved to have some sort of family possession, to know what my life could have been like, and I destroy it all within seconds," she said, staring at the floor.

I sat beside her. "I'm sorry," was I could think of to say.

Annie shook her and said, "There's no reason for you to be."

She went to take another smoke but I stopped her, grabbing her hand and slipping the cigarette from her fingers. "No," I told her softly, "Your friend down there told me you stop, and I'm not letting you give up now." I brought it up to my own lips and took a smoke.

She looked at me with her mouth opened slightly and let out a scoff. "Hypocrite," she called me but still managed to give me a small smile.

I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back on her bed casually. "You forgot these," I said, handing her the flowers.

"So I did," she said, taking hold of them. It was quiet for a while before she finally spoke again, "Do the others know?"

I straightened up, "No, they don't know. Your secrets safe with me"

She ran her fingers through her hair. "I'm serious," she said, looking at me. "Promise me you won't tell anyone."

I nodded, "Yeah of cour-"

She cut me off, standing up and pacing. "It's not that it's...a big deal, but it's just... I'd rather have this be just between you and me."

I got up and stopped her pacing by holding on to her shoulders with my hands. "I promise," I said to her.

She smiled up at me.

"But I have to ask," I said, her face dropped to a worried look. "You're a boy?" I jokingly asked, referring to what the file had reported.

"See, I donno," she said. "No, no, no, wait, that didn't come out right. I mean I'm a woman, trust me," she said, stepping back and motioning to her body. "Have been since I was born, I can let you check if you want."

She'd never know but there was nothing more than I wanted than to do just that.

"But I just don't know why the file said that," she said.

I snapped out of my thoughts of what she looked like naked and shifted my eyes from her body to her face. "Or why it said you were killed with you parent's in that crash when you obviously are alive."

She said nothing, but rather started biting her nails.

"Like I said, someone probably just made a mistake in the file," I said.

She chewed her nails some more, stopping only to say, "Yeah, I guess."

I looked at her up and down, taking her all in, the piece a paper she still held to her chest caught my attention. I lightly grabbed the edge of it, slipping it away from her grasps.

"This is the same picture from house you were looking at," I studied the photo of her as a baby with her mom and dad. "You were cute when you were little."

She let out a soft chuckle. "Well, wait, I take that back...you still are cute," wow that came out cheesy, smooth one Reno.

She stayed quiet; she was looking at the flowers in her hands, playing with the petals.

"Sooo, Annie Tusnick," I said, dancing around the question I wanted to ask. I didn't know how to say it with out it coming out accusingly. So I just went for it, "Is Annie even your real name?"

She looked up at me, she looked hurt. "I didn't mean for that to sound mean," I said, cringing, trying to soften the blow.

"Nickname since I was little, they called me that ever since the orphanage. That's also when they changed my last name from Tusnick to just Nick. Only a handful know my real name actually," she said, breaking eye contact.

"Which is?" I asked.

She let out a soft laugh, "Anastassia."

"Ana-stass-ia?" I said slowly, hoping I got it right.

"It's a mouth full, I know," she said, a genuine smile on her face. "That's why I just have people call me Annie. It's easier"

"It's a beautiful name," I said, stepping up to her, putting my thumb under her chin and tilting her head up so I could see her face.

Her smile widened. "Come on, I need to put these in water," she said, motioning to the flowers.

She walked past me and led me down to her kitchen. She was filling a vase with water when the guy from earlier came into the room.

"Someone must love you," he said, sitting at the kitchen table, across from me.

"What do you mean?" she asked, putting the flower in.

"No one gives someone a dozen red roses without having a huge crush," he said looking over at me, "Right, man?"

"Yeah," was all I could say.

"Reno, Tidus. Tidus, Reno," Annie introduced us.

"Yo," I said.

"Sup, want a drink?" he asked before I could answer his first question.

"Just say yes," Annie said as she shook her head at Tidus.

"Uh yeah," I said and told him what drink I wanted. He pointed to Annie, getting her drink order too.

He exited the room to their dining room. "His dream is to be a bartender, swear to god," Annie said, sitting next to me.

She smiled at me "Thank you for coming over and talking to me."

"Of course, I couldn't leave you like that," I told her.

"Okay," Tidus came back in and handing us our drinks.

"Cheers, yo," I said, as we clicked our glassed together.


	18. Chapter 18

"Annie, yo!" I turned in the parking lot to see Reno strutting up to me. I had just pulled in for the day and was walking to the building.

"Hey man," I said, waiting for him to catch up. "How are you?"

"Good, yo" he said, pausing before saying, "So...excited?"

I looked up to him with a puzzled face, "For what?"

We both slowed up and stopped to talk in the parking lot. "It's your birthday today, isn't it?"

I laughed, "Oh yeah, I guess it is."

He looked down at me with a weird look on his face, "What, did you forget?"

"No," I answered. "It's just after my 16th birthday, I kinda stopped celebrating it."

He gave me another looked before shaking his head and continuing, "Well, that changes tonight. Seventh Heaven, you, me, Rude, and maybe Tseng and Elena, depending how annoying they are today," he offered.

"Ehhh," I said, mulling it over in my head.

"Come on, you have yet to go with us," he stated, crossing his arms.

"Not my fault, I agree but then something comes up for work," I said putting my hands on my hips.

"Then plan to go out tonight, let me buy you a drink," he begged.

I let out a sigh, still thinking.

"Come on," he pushed, "What else are you going to –"

"What the fuck," I said lightly, cutting him off and staring at the scene unraveling in front of us.

We watched as a man ran between us, pushing us out of the way as two men dressed in dark gray, almost black outfits, gray armor, and bright blue lines and details on the uniforms, chased after him. Both had guns and helmets that covered their faces.

The man they were chasing got away and the two uniformed men stopped and looked at us.

"What's up guys," Reno said casually, pulling out his weapon.

"He's clean," one said, pointing to Reno.

"Clean?" Reno asked.

They ran towards him, aiming their guns.

"Woah," Reno yelled, defending himself and trying to push them off him.

They paid no mind to me. I grabbed the one closest to me and pulled him off Reno. The unknown man turned and with a swift move, smashed the butt of him gun into my stomach, knocking the breath out of me. I stumbled back and watched as he went back to Reno, who was battling with other one.

"Shit," I said, running back up to the pair and reengaging with the one I had before.

5 minutes later, Reno and I finally came out the victor. We were both panting.

"Who the fuck were they?" Reno said, trying to catch his breath.

"No clue," I said. "Come on."

We went straight to our office. "We just got jumped in the fucking parking lot," Reno said as soon as we entered.

"Shhh," Elena silenced us as her, Rude, and Tseng watched the news on the tv.

"What's this?" I asked, joining them.

"Coverage from when they opened the old Shinra building three weeks ago," Tseng said, eyes fixed on the screen.

"Ooooh, shit," Reno said, barely audible. For the past couple weeks, strange things have been happening, very strange. Mass amount of people of from other places in the worlds have gone missing, entire cities. Rufus said to ignore it, that this stuff wasn't any of our concern any more. That we need to stay out of it and focus on rebuilding our name, not staying in the past. But then again, for the past three week, Rufus's has barely entered the office, and when he did, he hit the liquor cabinet hard. But trust me, it's hard to ignore when disappearances are happening and at night, the sound of screams are carried by the wind from the direction of Midgar.

They ended the coverage before Tseng, Rude and Elena turned to face us.

"I take it Rufus stayed in again?" I asked.

Tseng nodded is head, "Yeah, he decided it would be best."

"Oh yeah, that is defiantly for the best," Reno said.

"So wait, you guys got jumped?" Elena asked.

"Yeah, some douchers in grayish black armor and blue lines on them," Reno explained.

"Pulski's men?" Rude asked.

"I don't think so," I said.

Tseng sighed, "Well, whatever it is, we'll deal with it later. Come on, we have training to do today."

* * *

"So where's this bar at," I asked, huddled under an umbrella with Reno.

"Just down the street, walking distance," He answered, point in the direction.

We made our way down the street, five of us sharing two umbrellas to stay out of the rain when more men came charging at us.

"Shit, these are the jokers from before," Reno said. "Except... a lot more."

At least 10 were around us now. "We can take them," Elena said as we armed ourselves.

"So, dese are thee Shinra Turks?" said a woman, stepping in front of the men. He sported red hair, dressed like the uniformed men only sluttier. "I must say, how the mighty have fallen."

"And you are?" Tseng asked.

"Rosso. Rosso thee Crimson." She answered.

"These four a clean," one of the armed mean said to her, motioning to Reno, Rude, Tseng, and Elena.

"Grab them," she said and snapped her fingers and her men charged us.

They pulled me from the rest of the group, pushing me out of the way on to the ground. I jumped back up and ran back to the fighting. I felt a hand grab my forearm a forcefully turn me around.

"And just what do you think your are doing, little girl?" Rosso sneered at me.

I brought my other hand up and smacked her in the face.

She barely flinched as she let out a low growl. She took my arm and in a quick flick of her wrist, I felt the bone in my arm crack and the sound of breaking filled my ears.

I dropped to my knees, pain overtaking my whole body.

She walked away from me and giving her men orders, "Go, get them in the container."

I snapped myself out and realized I had more important things to worry about than a broken arm. I got up and turn to see the men grabbing the struggling Reno and rest and taking them to what look like a cargo-shipping crate. I ran and started to fight of the men, trying to stop them.

First Elene, then Tseng, Rude was next, and they had yet to get Reno into the container.

"Reno!" I yelled, trying to fight my way towards them. The men pushed me back, I felt a jolt as one of them tazed me in my lower back.

I kept fighting, pushing through the pain. I elbowed the last guy out the way, knocking him to the ground. I ran to Reno, who was still being held by two of the armed men, but before I could, Rosso stepped between us.

"Must I do everything," she said. She grabbed Reno's ectro-mag, flicking it on and hitting me right in the chest with it. I dropped to the ground, completely immobile.

"No!" I heard Reno yell.

All I could do was watch as she gave Reno a shove into the container and close the door. She walked up to me, kneeling down and looking.

"What do you want us to do with her?" one of the man asked.

"Leave her, we have no use for her," she said, giving me one last shock, enough for me to lose complete consciousness.

* * *

When I woke back up, my body aching and soaked from the rain. Then the events that had happened hit me hard.

"Shit, no," I said, looking around the empty street, it was morning now and had just stopped raining. I tried getting myself up, only to fall back down and yell in pain when I put pressure on my left arm.

"Reno!" I yelled, hoping, just maybe it didn't happen like I remembered. "Reno!"

I started to panic, "Reno, Rude!" I was breathing faster, my mind racing to think of what to do. 'I'll go home," I thought, 'Get cleaned up, get X to wrap my arm..wait.' "Oh shit!" I said aloud, realizing the whole town was empty. My already panicked mind went into the overdrive as I thought about Tidus, Kalie and Xavier.

I got up and ran full force back to my house.

"Tidus! Xavier!" I yelled, throwing the door open and running in. I yelled their names again, checking the rooms on the first floor.

"Oh god," I whispered, more fear creeping into my body.

"No, no, no" I chanted as I ran up the stair.

"Tid-"

"Oh dear lord, why are you yelling?" I heard.

I turned around, my eye widened as a small bit of relief erupted in me as I laid eye on him.

"Tidus." I ran and threw my arms around, breaking out into tears.

"What's going on?" Kalie asked, her and Xavier walking up to us.

"They took them," I said turning to them.

"They took who?" Tidus asked.

"What happened to your arm?" Xavier asked.

I started to tell them what happened, but I even knew I wasn't making sense and I was talking a mile a minute.

"Okay, okay, calm down, let just settle down and not be crazy right now," Tidus said, leading me down the stairs and to a living room.

"Let me see your arm," Xavier said when we sat down.

"Here," Tidus gave me a drink. "Now, what happened?"

I took a deep breath. "These guys, they jumped us on our way to the bar, they were to much to handle and took Reno, and my other co-workers away in some container. Ahh!"

I let out a scream as Xavier turned my arm.

"It's defiantly broken," he said, getting up and leaving the room.

"Wait," Kalie said, going back to what I was talking about, "Were these guys dressed in gray and blue, talking about being 'clean' or something?"

"Yes!" I exclaimed, Xavier coming back in and starting to wrap my arm up.

"Yeah, remember, those were the guys that tried to get us," she said, hitting Tidus on the arm.

"Pshh, that really happened? I thought it was a dream," he said.

"He was wasted," Kalie said, rolling her eyes.

"What happened?" I asked.

"They were after us, about 12 of them. And had it not been this group of guys, we would have been done for," Xavier explained.

"What did these people look like?"

"Uh," Kalie said, thinking back to last night, "Blond guy with spiky hair and dark clothes. A girl in black with long black hair. And a really big, really muscular black guy."

"Oh yeah!" Tidus interjected, "I remember, he had a gun for a hand. Dude, if I ever lose my hand, promise me you'll guys will get me a gun to replace it."

We all looked at him before continuing, "I need to call Rufus, I need to figure out what to."

Xavier finished with my arm.

I pulled out my phone and dialed his number.

"Hello?" Rufus answered.

I went up to my room and I explained what happened and about the people that helped Tidus and them, while changing into a pair of skinny jeans, black shirt, and a pair of boots.

"Sounds like Cloud and his gang. Alright, meet me at a bar called Seventh Heaven with in the hour," he told me over the phone.

"Alright," I said, turning to the gang that was standing in the doorway. "I'm going to go to Seventh Heaven to meet up with Rufus."

"We're coming with you," Tidus said.

I shook my head, "No." I put my coat on, wincing at the pain when I put my left sleeve on.

"Yes," Xavier said, "You have a busted arm. If you get into trouble, there's no way you can fight them off."

"No," I said more firmly.

"We're coming with you," Tidus said again.

"Seriously," Kalie interrupted "This is no time for you to plat heroin."

"None of you are coming," I said, pushing through them.

"Annie, you can't fight right. Your one arm is practically useless," Tidus said, coming after me.

"I don't care, I can't let you," I yelled, turning towards them. "I just lost 4 of my really good friends that I work with. I can't lose you guys too!"

"God dammit Annie, we don't have time for this!" Tidus said, his voice raising.

"No, I don't have time for you," I stared at them, why couldn't they get that I didn't want their help. "For some reason, they aren't after me, but they are for you. I can't let you guys get hurt."

It was quiet, as they realized why I didn't want them to come with me.

"Annie," Xavier said, walking up to me, "I know you're worried about us, but you need to let us help."

"Yeah," Tidus agreed, "We don't want to lose you either. Come on, it'll be like old time."

I took in a deep breath and nodded, "Okay, but we need to hurry."


	19. Chapter 19

"Alright," I said, as we walk down the street, "This is my boss we are meeting up with. Please, please, please, be on your best behavior and don't at like fools."

Kalie stopped where she was, "Wait, you mean boss as in Rufus?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, not in the mood for any of this, continuing to walk.

"Shit- how do I look?" I could hear her ask Tidus.

"You look fine," he said as we rounded the corner to Seventh Heaven to see Rufus standing out front.

The president eyed us up, "Who are they?"

"Friends," I said, walking up to him. "I would trust them with my life."

He nodded before turning and we followed him in to the establishment.

Two people we in the bar area, a girl was behind the bar, wiping it down and a large man was sitting at a table. The girl looked up, let out a soft chuckle before saying "Rufus... it's been awhile."

"Tifa, we need your help," Rufus said.

"No god damn way," the man said, getting up and turning towards us.

"Barrett," Tifa said, trying to calm him.

Her efforts were futile, as he continued, "No, its one thing if they want to get a drink, but we ain't help no Shinra scum."

Tifa looked from him to us again, "Hey, you're the guys that we helped yesterday." She look back to Rufus with a questioning look, "Where's your Turks?"

"Look," Rufus started, "We just need some help. That's all we're asking."

"The answers no," Barrett said.

"Barretts right," Tifa agreed, "You know our position on Shinra, and to help you would just go against who we are and what we stand for."

Barret also added. "And besides, had we'd known you worked from Shinra, we wouldn't have helped you last night," he finished by pointing at Tidus, Xavier, and Kalie.

"Okay," I finally spoke, "First, they don't work for Shirna, I do, so stop with that. Second, why won't you help us? Whatever's going here has gotten us all involved. We need to save some people, which means when we go to save them, we'll be saving other people as well. We're on your side. Are you really going to deny help from us?"

I watched out of corner of my eye as a man with blond, spiky hair came down the stairs.

"They took the rest of your Turks." Tifa stated, figuring out why we needed help. None of us answer as she nodded her head. "Well, sorry, but we can't help you, we're not even in charge of the rescue team. We're just helping them when they need us."

"Who?" I asked.

They all remained silent, hesitant to answer.

"Who!" I yelled this time, slamming my hands on the bar.

"WRO," The blond guy said. "Reeve, can help you."

"Reeve?" Rufus said softly before leaving the bar. We all followed, I stopped and turned to the blond. "Thank you," I said to him.

* * *

"This is the place?" Tidus asked as we walked into the WRO headquarters.

"What happened?" Kalie asked. The place was torn apart, injured soldiers were all around; the place had obviously just been under attack.

"This way," Rufus lead us.

"You guys go," Xavier said, kneeling down at a wounded soldier. "I'm going to stay here and help."

I nodded and continued on.

"Rufus. Cloud called and said you were on your way," a man with long, dark hair said.

"Reeve," Rufus said, shaking hands with him, "Long time."

"I assume you're not here just to catch up on old times."

"4 of our members were taken by what we assume are the people you're after, we need to get them back," Rufus said as we all walked down corridors towards Reeve's office. "What's going on?"

"My suspicions were right," Reeve said, more to himself to anyone in the room.

"Which are?" Rufus questioned.

Reeve looked up at him, "Does the name Deepground sound familiar at all?"

Rufus shook his head, "No."

"Just as I thought. Deepground was a covert top-secret branch of SOILDIER. Only your father, Scarlet and Heidegger knew about them; I was on a need to know bases. When power was shifted to you, they never found time to brief you on them," Reeve explained.

We waited for Rufus to say something, but he remained silent, taking everything in. I spoke up for him, "What are they doing?"

Reeve looked at me and swallowed hard, "They want to awaken the final WEAPON, Omega. In order to this they must sacrifice "clean" souls."

"Clean?" Kalie asked.

"Not infected with Jenova cells of any type," he explained.

"So, this Omega, what is it?" Tidus joined in.

"Well, it's hard to explain. From what we're assuming, it's a vessel that will take the Lifestream from this planet when it ends and will take it fly into space to start the cycle of a new planet," Reeve tried telling us.

We remained quiet again. "Soooo, let me get this straight, by awakening this WEAPON, they're pretty much going to end the world?" I tried wrapping my head around it.

"Yes," he said.

"Why?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders, "That's one thing we don't know."

"What do we have to do to save our men?" Rufus finally spoke up, shift to the more pressing issue.

"For what we found, you'll have to go into Midgar, under the old Shinra headquarters. Their keeping their captive there and them throwing them into the Lifestream."

"Then we go there," I said, starting to make my way out of the room.

"It won't be that easy," Reeve stopped me.

I turned towards him.

"The place it littered with Deepground, the Tsviets are also down there," he told me.

"Tsviets?" Rufus asked.

"The elite group of Deepground."

"I have to go, regardless. I'll die trying to save them," I said.

Reeve nodded, "If you must then, please take this with you," he said motioning to some cat like creature.

"What..." I was kinda at a lost of words, then changed into surprise when it started to speak and move.

"Hiya!" it said.

"This is Cait Sith, he'll help you through and to get to were you need to be," Reeve said to me.

Rufus looked at me, "I'll stay here; there's still a lot I need to know."

I nodded, "We better go."

"I'll arrange a truck to transport you and get you as close at they can. Be careful, the WRO will be launching it's attack on Deepground while you're doing this." Reeve said as Tidus, Cait Sith and I made our way out.

"Uh, you guys go, I'm going to stay here and see if they need anything as well," Kalie said, going over to stand next to Rufus.

I nodded and left, closing the door behind us before Tidus said., "She would risk the end of the world to get laid."


	20. Chapter 20

"So I told her 'Look, I don't care if you are rich, there's no way I'd risk getting diseases just to get some.'" Tidus said.

"Uh-huh," I said, not paying attention to the story he was telling me.

"No, you don't understand Annie, this girl was nasty, and even my drunk self wouldn't..." he continued as I got up from my seat in the back of this cargo truck and started pacing. "Are you even listening?"

"Yeah," I said. "You were drunk and got with some gross girl," I recalled the story the best I could.

"No, wrong." He let out a sigh and said, "See you weren't listening. God you're unbearable right now."

"Yeah, that's nice hun," I replied, still not catching what he said. "Hey, does this thing go any faster?" I asked opening the window that was connected to the driver's cabin.

"Look ma'am," the man in the passengers seat said annoyed, "For the millionth time today, we have it going as fast as we can. Now sit down, we're trying to concentrate."

I let out a sigh when he reached around a slammed the window shut, blocking me out from them.

"Leave them alone Ann," Tidus said. "Swear to god, you bother them and we crash I'll so-"

"Tidus," I cut him off. "Shut up."

He let out a sigh and crossed his arms, but stayed silent knowing it was for the best.

And we all remained that way, tension thick, until the truck abruptly stopped. I could feel us go airborne and crash back on to the ground, the trunk ending up on its side.

"Everybody okay?" I heard Cait Sith. The crash had caused us to going flying in the truck, each of us now laying on the side inside of it.

"Yeah," I said Tidus helping me up.

"What the hell happened?' he asked, the cab of the truck had lost power and it was difficult to balance in now.

"Reeve did say the WRO would be attacking the Deepground, we probably got mixed in it and got hit," I said, walking over and opening the door to let us out. "Shit," I said, looking out and finding ourselves in the middle of the fighting.

"We don't have time for this," I shook my head turning to Cait Sith "Get us to where we need to go, and do it quickly."

He nodded and started running and ducking through rumble, we followed, making sure not to been seen until we were away from the all the fighting.

"We should be good from here," Cait Sith told us, "Just stay on guard."

"Sure thing boss," Tidus said, following him. We all remained quiet, until Tidus took initiative to make conversation. "So, tell me Annie, why are you acting like this?"

Sometimes I loved this boy, but not when he acted like this. "Tidus, now is not the time," I told him.

"Well, I'm just saying. It's been a long time since I've seen you like this," he explained.

I rolled my eyes and walked faster to get away from him.

He quickened his pace as well, "In fact I can only think of two other times you were ever like this. 7 years ago when..." he paused, looking at Cait Sith and choosing his words carefully, "when...all that...stuff happened. Then 3 years with Sephiroth and the whole meteor thing and...other stuff."

I ignored him; trying not to let what he was saying get to me.

He kept on his speech, "You never get passionate and upset like this unless...unless you feel like it's a situation you can't control."

I stopped and turned to him, telling him shortly, "Or maybe I'm upset because I have some guy following me around, risking both our lives and trying to play therapist while I'm trying to fight my own battle."

He looked down at me. "Your own battle?" he asked slowly. I didn't make eye contact with him as he laid his hand on my shoulder. "Look Annie, we've been through a lot together. I'm here for you no matter what, whether you like it or not. You'll never have your 'own battle' …at least not while I'm around."

There was a pause as he looked at me, waiting for me to say something. When I didn't he continued, "You know you can talk to me about anything."

I bit my bottom lip before finally breaking and saying, "Last night, that fight, there was a girl. And she...she kick my ass. I...I never fought someone with power like that...It was because of her...because I wasn't strong enough, because I was weak, that...that I could save him."

"You mean them?" Tidus asked.

"Hmm," I sounded, finally looking up at him.

"You said him, but you mean them. Unless...you do mean him?" he asked, raising his eyebrow and having a questioning look on his face.

I opened my mouth, trying to forms words and cover what I said. A smirk formed on Tidus's lips, "I knew it." He let out a laugh as he crossed his arms, "The red head right?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," I said, starting to walk away.

"Ahha! I am right! What's his name, Rio? You have a crush on him," he said, nipping at my heels.

"Okay, first, it's Reno and second, quit being stupid," I replied.

"You know, when he came over to our house back in February, I had a hunch you had a bit of a crush on him, but I never gave anymore thought to it. Yet here we are, I figured it out and you're face is turning red."

I turned my face away to hide the fact that he was right. "Let's just drop it. Okay? If anything happens to any of them...I don't know what I'll do."

It was quiet for a second. "It's not your fault," Caith Sith said to me.

I look at him; in disbelief this thing was giving me advice.

"And we'll get them back," he continued as we entered the old Shinra building.

I nodded, my attitude changing, realizing Tidus was right and I need to keep my mind on the task at hand, not my feelings.

"This is rather...eerie," Tidus took the words right out of my mouth in reference to the building we were walking in.

"This way," Cait Sith beckoned us down into a hole in the floor.

We continued our way down, through Shinra's top-secret floors and down until we were under what remained of the plates and in the slums of Midgar.

"Brings back memories," I said, referring to the couple years we lived in Midgar.

Tidus let out a chuckle, "Yeah, we had it easy."

It was quiet again as we made our way through houses and on rooftops, into rectors and industrial looking places.

Tidus broke the silence, leaning towards me, "He like you too, by the way."

"What?" I asked, looking up at him with true confusion on my face.

"The red head?" he said.

" Reno?" I asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, totally has the hots for you," he explained.

I let out a laugh, "Whatever."

"I'm being dead serious, that day he came to our place and the way he looked at you. Plus he did give you those flowers."

"First he didn't give me those flowers, I asked and he said he didn't-" I started but Tidus cut me off.

"Oh right, because someone who leave anonymous flowers would fess up that easily."

I let out a sigh, "Secondly, I'm pretty sure he has higher standards than me."

He too let out a sigh, "When will you learn to have confidence."

I shook my head, ignoring what he was saying to me.

"And trust me, I'm a guy, I know that look he had in his eye. That boy wants you," he told me.

"And why are you telling me this?" I asked, "Because as I said before, this was so not the time to talk about this stuff."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Just in case. I'm just giving you the go ahead."

"I wasn't asking for the go ahead." I replied.

He laughed at me and slung his arm around my shoulder, "Yeah, but I'm just looking out for you."

"In here," Cait Sith called us over. "Here's where they're keeping the containers full of people," he said as we walked into a new room.

And what I saw almost made me break into tears.


	21. Chapter 21

"One container…there's only one container left," I let out in a whisper. My eyes started to brim with tears and my mind raced with thoughts. The probability of Reno and the others being this one container was… I didn't even want to think about it.

"Annie," Tidus said, gripping my shoulders and crouching down to be at eye level with me. "Whoever's in that container, for better or worse we'll get through this. Keep your head up." He finished as he rolled his thumb under my eye, wiping away a tear that found its way down my cheek.

I nodded my head, "Right, let get it opened."

"Stop, don't move a step forward," said one of the two soldiers guarding the container.

I said nothing as I grabbed the one on the left by the arm, flipping him to the ground on his back and finished him with quick jab to his throat. Tidus swiftly killed the one on the right with a stab to his stomach with his daggers.

"That's how it's done," Tidus said full of pep, giving me a high five. "Damn it's been a long time."

I stood in front of the doors of the container, eying ever inch of it. "How the hell do we open this thing?" I asked.

"Uhh," Tidus said, joining my side and searching the container. "Oh! Keypad," he pointed to it and made his way over, punching number combinations.

"We don't have time to be guessing numbers," I hastily said, frustration building after ever wrong code that was entered. "Is there any other way to get it opened?"

Tidus eyed the key panel again. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" I repeated, "I don't want a maybe, I want a yes."

"Right here," he put his finger on a metal covering right under the key panel. "It's where all the wires and junk are stored to open, lock, and unlock the doors." Tidus explained.

"Okay?" I still didn't understand what he was getting at.

He let out a soft laugh, "Don't act like you don't know. You're forgetting who is one of the top computer hackers on the planet. Remember, I was put in jail for it."

I raised my eyebrow at him, "You weren't in jail… you were arrested and we bailed you out within the hour. And they didn't even file charges."

His face turned serious, "Never the less, there's no computer/car/security system I can't break into."

He looked at me with a satisfied look. "Then do it…" I said after he just stood there dumbly.

"Right, first to open this," he smashed the metal plate covering the wires with the butt of his dagger before starting to disconnect and reconnect wires.

"Tidus," I said.

"Yeah?"

"I hate to rush you but, hurry the fuck up," my voice wavered with worry as a crane started to make its way over to the container.

It hovered over it, I watched it as I said, "Seriously, Tidus."

"I'm trying," he said, annoyance apparent in his tone.

"Now!" I yelled as the crane made it's way down to pick up the container.

"Got it!" Tidus exclaimed, backing away from it as the doors opened.

I didn't wait a minute. "Reno!" I yelled, walking into the container, pushing through the sea of people that were frantically trying to make their way out to safety.

"Reno!" I yelled again, a bit more panic hit my voice. "Rude!" Only a small amount of light trickled in through the doors on the containers, and I squinted to see anything.

I took a deep breath, ready to give up hope as I yelled, "Ren-"

I was cut off as I felt a pair of arms wrap about my waist, holding me close. I look up and let out a huge sigh of relief to see the bright red hair of Reno fall in my face as he rested his on top of mine. "Yo," he said.

"Oh my god," I breathed out, throwing my good arm around his neck.

He pulled me in tighter, crushing my broken arm, but I felt no pain.

"Don't ever scare me like that again," I whispered in his ear.

"I promise I never will, yo," he told me back. And through that little bit of light I could his signature smirk playing on his lips and that we were the only ones left in the container.

I could have kissed him. We were mere centimeters away from it, the perfect romance scene, until Tidus snapped me out of it, yelling "Annie, get the fuck out of there!"

I felt the container shift, and jolt us both to the floor of it. Before I knew it we were up off the ground and zipping on track above the air.

I stood up, wobbling to get balance. I watched as Tidus, Tseng, Rude and Elena chase alongside it. It came to abrupt stop, lingering above the bright green abyss.

"Annie! If you don't jump, I swear I will kill you when I see you hell!" Tidus yelled, leaning over the railing.

"We gotta jump, yo" Reno said, looking down at me.

I swallowed the lump in my throat, it was far leap but we had no choice.

"Count of three, okay?" he said to.

"One," he counted, standing beside me.

"Two," he put his hand in mine, intertwining our fingers together.

"Three," he yelled as we both leapt from the container just as it was release and started to fall into the Lifestream.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what the worst could be, squeezing on to Reno's hand tighter and reaching out with my other. As soon as I felt it hit something, I closed my hand tightly, not letting go.

Immediately I opened my eyes and let out a scream, my already broken arm was all that was holding Reno and me from plummeting in the Lifestream. "Pull me up," I said through my teeth as more and more stress was being put on it.

Tidus rushed over and kneeled down, grabbing my upper arm and pulled my up with the help of Elena while Tseng and Rude grabbed Reno.

As soon as we were both on solid flooring, I grabbed my arm, sitting against the railing as I gritted my teeth not to scream in pain.

"Are you okay?" Reno asked, his face right in front of mine.

"Yeah," I said painfully, "I'm good."

I looked over at Tidus who mouthed 'Told ya so.'

I shook my head, "Go ahead, I'll catch up."

Tidus nodded his head, standing straight up and yelling to the rest of the people that had been in the container, "Okay people, unless you stay here, you better follow us this way."

"You sure you're okay?" Reno asked again.

"Yeah," I told him, getting myself up off the ground. "Just a bit of a broken arm."

"Here," he said, talking off his jacket and wrapping it around me, making me a makeshift sling.

I let out a soft chuckled after he finished. "Thanks, Dr. Reno."

"Anything for the hero of the day," he said as we both started to follow the group of people, leaving a sizable gap between us and them.

"Well, I had a lot of help," making sure I gave credit where credit was due.

Reno stuffed his hands in his pockets, "Yeah, but I don't care about them."

I laughed at him, reveling in the victory that was made today.

"No!" I heard from the front of the group. I looked up to see what was going on, only to see Rosso run and grab a child from a mother and run in between the gap that was between the group of people and Reno and I.

"I refuse to let this be the end!" she yelled, struggling with the child as she back up to the railing by the Lifestream. "I will throw you one by one to Omega. Hail Weiss!"

"Weiss?" Reno whispered.

I put my hand up when I saw Tidus run forward. He stopped and nodded as I walked forward. "You'll have to get past me first." I took the child away from her and pulled my sword out.

"You," she spat. "I should have killed you when I had the chance."

"I'd like to see you try," I retorted back.

"Are you really that big of a fool? I'll break your other arm and every other bone in your body!" she yelled pulling out her double bladed weapon, thrusting at my face and grazing the side of my cheek.

She jumped back as I let out a chuckle and wiped away the blood that trickled down the left side of my face.

I gripped my sword tightly, charging at her, landing a high kick to her face. She stumbled back and regained balanced, swinging her weapon. I ducked and kicked her feet out from under her. Rosso rolled quickly out of the way as I swung my sword down.

"You think you can defeat me?" she yelled, "If I wouldn't let Vincent Valentine, what makes you think I will let you!"

Back and forth we fought, each one of us not letting the other have the edge of defeat. I went to stab my sword as she grabbed in it her hand, pulling it and me. I brought my elbow up and hit her under her chin. She let go and I turned quickly to grab her by the hair and pulled her to the ground.

Rosso stared up at me, out of breath and out of energy. She looked past me and started to laugh, "Go ahead, kill me. But you are too late."

I turned my head to see what she was looking at. "Fuck," I whispered, watching as Omega emerged.

Rosso's laughter grew loader and I turned to her, grabbing her by the head and snapping her neck.

I let out a sigh as I back away back to Reno and the rest of the group.

"Now what?" Tidus asked.

"Let's go," was all I said as I started my way back to Edge.

We all trudge along, silent and defeated in a way.

"Look!" yelled the little girl.

We turned and look up to what she was pointing at. From the sky rained down green beads and I let out a small laugh and a smile as the Lifestream rained over us and returned to the planet.

* * *

"So everything's back to normal?" Kalie asked as all of us: us Turks, AVALANCHE, and my little group, sat in Seventh Heaven.

"In theory yes, everything should go back to the way it was," Reeve answered her.

"Ouch," I winced as Xavier stitched the cut on my face, barely paying attention to the conversation at hand.

"What about Valentine?" Rufus asked.

Everyone remained silent, not knowing the answer.

"Done," Xavier said, pulling away.

"Look," I said, turning my head so Reno could see the side of my face. "I'm like you're twin, only on one side of my face," I pointed to the cut on my face that was identical to the tattoos on his face.

"Yeah, but mine are forever," he said, tapping on his two red marks.

"And if I did it right, yours won't leave a mark," Xavier said, cleaning up his medical stuff.

"You better have done it right," I told him while he walked away.

"What? Don't you want to look like me?" Reno teased.

I laughed, "Only you can pull of those tattoos."

"Hey," Tseng snapped his fingers at us, getting our attention. "Let's go."

We left the bar, saying our goodbye and how they hoped to never see us Shinra scum again.

"Here," I said to Reno, pulling his Elctro-mag from my jacket. "You dropped this," I said, referring to when Rosso took it.

"I thought I lost this forever," he said, practically hugging it. "How'd you get it?"

"Rosso dropped it and I grabbed it when I came to," I explained.

Rufus turned to us, "It's been a rough couple days. Take the rest of the day off and tomorrow as well."

He walked away from us.

I stood there awkwardly in front of Reno, not sure what to do.

"Annie, come on. I want to get home and take a shower asap," Kalie yelled at me after a couple seconds past.

I let out a sigh and look up. "See ya Monday," I said to Reno, and walked back home.

* * *

Alright so, obviously this was lame, but I felt like it would be lacking in the story if I didn't pay a nod to Dirge of Cerberus. If you haven't played, I recommend you do, it will answer a lot of questions that were not addressed here and will explain the whole story better than I can. In my opinions, it's an alright game, not the strongest in the series, but I do recommend that you play it.


	22. Chapter 22

"I don't know, I mean it's not like I don't like the place, it's just that my landlord is such a douche." I sighed, looking over at the empty desk across from me. It was nearly noon and Annie had yet to come in.

"So what are you going to do?" Elena asked.

"I donno, probably just wait til my lease is up. Not much I can do," I said, watching as Rude got up and left the room.

I look around quickly, making sure both Tseng's and Rufus's offices were close.

"Okay, it's almost 12, do you know where Annie is? I texted her, she-"

"She's sick," Elena cut me off, not look up once from her work.

"Sick?" I repeated.

"Yeah, food poison," she said, swinging in her chair to finally face me.

"How do you know?" I asked, pulling a weird look.

"Because," she started, "I was with her when she got sick."

"What? You were with her?" I pushed, being surprised they even talked outside of work.

"Yeah, yesterday" she said, getting up and pouring herself some more coffee. "Bad seafood-"

"You guys hang out?"

"Well, yeah. We go out shopping and catch a bite once and a while," she shrugged.

"Since when?"

"I donno, probably once a month for a while. It's actually really fun, I may have had my doubts about her when she first started, but it's really nice to get a break from you boys."

I still was rather taken aback about it and Elena noticed, "Reno, really? If you're that jealous of me hanging out with here then you can come with us next time."

I shook my head, "No, no it's not that, I just… I donno."

I turned back to my work and so did she.

It was quiet for a while until I turned back to her. "So, what do you guys talk about on these outings?"

She sighed and turned to face me, "What do you mean?"

"Well," I said slowly, "if you two are gal pals, then you guys must talk about certain things…things that only girls discuss with other girls…"

"You mean like boys?" she questioned matter of factly.

"You said it, not me," I pointed out.

She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "Well yeah, we've brushed over that topic."

"And?"

"And what?" she said.

I threw my arms up, "Are you being intentionally dense?"

"Well no, do you mean are we talking about you, or about her exes, or just guys in general?" she asked.

"Both!"

"Both?" she questioned. It then dawned on me that she gave me three options.

"The first two." Elena was really starting to frustrate me.

She stayed quiet and I could tell she was battling in her head if she should really tell me this kind of stuff.

"Elena, come on," I pleaded. "You're my friend aren't you?" She let out a mock laugh. "You know what I mean. Help me out here. You know my…feelings towards her. It's your duty to tell this stuff."

She sighed, "Fine, what do you want to know first."

"What does she say about me," I said, but changed my mind, "No wait, save that for last, give me the dirt on her exes."

"Well…" she trailed off, thinking back to the conversations. "She has three…no four exes. Three of them really weren't anything special, lasted less than a year. But the other one…" she trailed off.

I looked Elena expectantly. "What about him?"

She shrugged, "He's just a douchebag. "

"And what does that mean?" I asked.

"Like," she paused, trying to find the right words. "Like, they were together off and on for a couple years and he ended up cheating on her."

"Oh that punk is so dead," I said, finding myself getting defensive.

"I'm quite sure she can handle herself. In any case, they finally officially ended their relationship about 3 years ago. But even now he still tries to get a hold of her."

"If that guy tries to mess with her while I'm around…so dead."

Elena let out a huff, waiting for me to be done.

"Anyway," I said, shifting topics. "What do you guys say about me?"

She pulled a sympathetic look and bit her lip.

"What does that face mean?" I worriedly asked.

"You…really haven't come up a lot," she broke the ice.

My face dropped, "Never once?"

"Well…ok, we've probably gone out about…6 times and you've probably been brought up 4 times."

"So, what was said?"

She thought for a second, "Oh! She brought up how you came over and how you, her, and her roommate got wasted-"

"Yeah, yeah, and she ended up falling asleep on her couch and Tidus and I played video game for the rest of the night." I finished the story.

"Yeah, so I told her about the time, three years ago, during Shinra's Christmas party and how you drank way to much eggnog and tried to climb the Christmas tree and ended up having it crash on to Scarlet and then you passed out under the table," by the time she finished she was laughing.

I stared at her with my mouth open and glare directed at her.

"What?" she asked when she saw my face.

"I'm trying to get this girl to like me! How does that help me? You're just making me look like a drunken idiot!" I tried keeping my voice in check, but it came out loud.

"Shhh!" Elena hushed me up and reminding me that Tseng was right in the other room.

"You're ruining it for me!" I let out in a harsh whisper.

"Well no…" she tried to calm me; "I mean Annie laughed about it and…it didn't look like…" she trailed off.

I sighed, running my hand through my hair, "Just as long as that was the only embarrassing story."

I looked at her as a look of guilt covered her face. "Oh, what? What could you have possibly told her?" I exasperatedly asked, putting my face in my hands.

"It was just this one other thing, other than that it was all good stuff," she tried softening the blow that I knew was coming.

"Just spit it out Elena."

She took a deep breath, "I may have told her about that time on vacation at Costa del Sol…"

I slowly took my face from my hands, looking up at her. "You didn't…" I said in a low whisper.

She winced at the sound of my voice. "I only told her about how you tried to learn how to surf after having a few drinks. And how you lost your swim trunks. And how you tried to climb onto the room of our hotel and ended up breaking your leg."

I stared at the floor. "She thinks I'm an idiot. A drunken, stupid idiot."

"No," Elena tried to stop me thinking that. "She doesn't, she found it all rather funny."

"Elena," I warned.

"Yes?"

"Just, shut up now." I said, turning away from her.

* * *

"Oh dear god, please turn that off," I moaned. I felt awful. My stomach felt like it was dying and my head was pounding, and Tidus's television show selection wasn't helping

"Uh, no," Tidus said. "I have to catch up on this show; I work hard for a summer break. And you being sick isn't going to make me change the channel."

"He's been like this since his break started," Kalie said from the dining room.

I sighed, rolling over to face the opposite direction. "Hey," I heard Tidus say to her, "That's the perks of being a teacher, I get time off to enjoy my soap operas during the summer."

"You're so lame," Kalie mumbled under her breath.

"Mail call," Xavier said, walking into the house.

"Anything for me?" Kalie asked, hopeful.

"Uh, sure…you can have my student loan bills," he said, picking my legs up to sit on the couch with me before setting them back down on his lap. "Tidus," he said,- tossing some envelopes his way.

Xavier opened his mail and came to the last one in a decorative envelope and seal.

"That looks fancy," I said.

"Yeah," he said, opening it. He skimmed over it before reading it out load.

"'Dear Dr. Kilmer,

We are pleased to invite you and a guest to the opening and launch party of our new medical company: Aduro Inc. This is an exclusive event that is open to only top scientist, doctors, engineers, and professionals in the field. Aduro Inc. is an up and coming medical company that specializes in producing the latest medicines, the newest in technological advances of medical equipment, bioengineering, and energy renewal.-"'

"Looks like Shrina has some competition," Tidus interrupted.

"'The event will take place at the Winter Palace Resort at the Icicle Inn on June 19th. Dinner will be provided and your room will be compensated. We hope you are able to make it and please RSVP to the return address or call the number below. Sincerely, President Pulski.' Wait…Pulski…oh not this joker. Fuck this." Xavier moaned.

"Pulski?" I asked getting up at the sound of his name. "You know him?"

"Yeah," he nodded his head. "We went to school together. Total prick. Though he was hot shit because his dad was Hojo's assistant. Pssh whatever, I graduated top of my class, while he dropped out after his dad was murdered. Always tried to cheat off me too." I watched as he read the letter again.

"So, are you going?" I asked.

"No, hate that kid. I'd rather not see him hold a party just to glorify himself. Besides, I have work," he said, folding up the invite.

I hesitated before asking, "Can I go for you?"

He looked at me before nodding, "Yeah man, what are you going to get some dirt on him for Shinra."

"Yeah," I said. As soon as I had the invite in my hand I was up off the couch and rushing to my room. I had to get this to Rufus. The event was on Friday and it was already Monday. I stopped in the doorway, leaning against it as my head rushed from the sickness. I took a second to regain focus before digging for some clothes. I had put my skirt on and was buttoning up my quartered-sleeved bloused when Xavier and Tidus walked into my room.

"Where do you think you're going?" Tidus asked.

I pulled my heels out and threw them back, realizing I could barely stand without them on, with them, I'd be a mess. "I need to get this to the president," I explained while I put on some flats.

I didn't bother with a jacket or tie.

"You can barely see straight, you need to lie down and rest," Xavier said.

"Nope," I said, pushing through them, "I need to go...this is more important."

I ignored their lecture and made my way to HQ.

* * *

"Are you seriously going to be mad at me for the rest of the day?" Elena asked me.

"You'll be lucky if I ever stop being mad at you," I told her, turning back to my computer.

I heard the office door open, figuring it was Rude and stayed staring at my computer screen.

"Annie?" I heard Elena.

I looked up and saw that indeed it was her, only much more sickly. Her already fair skin was nearly transparent and she looked like she was in major need of rest. All color was drained from her face and nearly look like collapsing. She marched passed the both of us, going to Rufus's door and trying to open it. After trying to pushing it open and realizing it was locked she turned and asked us, "Where's Rufus?"

By now I had gotten out of my chair and was beside her. I hunched down to be at her eye level.

"Annie, what are you doing here? Sit down." I told her, leading her to her chair and setting her in it.

"I need to talk to Rufus," she said. "Where is he?"

"He's in a meeting," Elena said walking over to us and standing by me. "Why are you here?"

"I need to talk him now," was all she said.

"Annie? I thought you called off?" Tseng said, joining us.

"I have to-" she started but Elena finished for her.

"She needs to talk to Rufus."

Tseng eyed her, "You look terrible, whatever this is must be important."

"Thanks," she sarcastically said in reference to the looking terrible comment.

"You know what I meant," Tseng said as he took a letter than she handed to her.

He read over it quickly, his expression changing from confusion to concern. "I'll go get Rufus."

"What's going on?" Elena asked as Tseng went into his office.

"Are you okay? Do you need anything?" I asked Annie, blocking out Elena.

She nodded her head, leaning on her desk. "I'm good," she said but it wasn't convincing. I looked at her, my mind racing with what I could do to make her feel better.

Tseng came back in a few minutes later, walking directly for Rufus's office. "Come on."

When we walked in, Rufus had just made his way in as well, followed by Rude.

"What is so important that you had to call me out of a very important business meeting?" He didn't sound too happy.

Tseng handed him the letter.

He read it over, letting out a scoff, "Where did you get this?" He handed it to Elena, Rude and I to read.

Annie spoke up, "My roommate got it in the mail. He use to know Pulski, went to school with him."

"That clever bastard," Rufus said, turning and looking out the window. "He managed to set up a whole company behind our backs."

"Sir?" Tseng asked after Rufus stayed silent for a while.

"This roommate of yours," he finally said, "I take it he's not going."

I looked over to see Annie shake her head. "No, the invite is all ours."

Rufus nodded, "Then it looks like you guys have plans Friday night."


	23. Chapter 23

"It's not gonna fit, man," I said to Reno.

"Oh, it's going to fit. No way are they making me put this with the rest of the cargo, yo."

I rolled my eyes as I watched him heave his bag onto the carry-on checkpoint. It was Thursday now and all five of us were en route to Icicle Inn for the party, getting ready to board the plane.

"I bet you a 100 gil they tell you that it's too big or heavy for a carry-on," I said to him as I picked up my own bag from the checkpoint.

We both watched as the woman went through it briefly before turning back to us. "I'm sorry sir, but your carry-on exceeds the requirements. We're going to have to put it with the rest of the luggage."

Reno let out a sigh, "Fine." We both walked away and started boarding the plane behind Rude, Elena, and Tseng.

"Told ya," I said.

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "The rest of this trip better not go like this, or I am so getting shit faced."

"May I remind you this isn't a vacation," Tseng said, turning his head to us. "This is a mission so stay alert."

"Aye aye captain," Reno sarcastically said as we made our way down the aisles of the plane. "Lady's first," Reno said to me, allowing me to have the window seat and him the aisle.

I walked past him and sat down in the seat. "Aren't you a gentleman?"

"Only to a select few people," he said, sitting down in his own seat. He sighed, repositioning himself. "Thank you Rufus for being cheap and getting us coach seating."

I laughed at him as I slipped my heels off.

"Seriously," he said to me, "I have no leg room. None what so ever."

"Just think," I told him, "Only 8 hours of this."

"Yeah, great," he said.

The rest of the passengers had boarded by now and the plane was about to take off.

"Can I get you two anything?" the flight attendant asked us.

"Uh yeah," Reno said to her. "We'll both start off with a drink."

"Reno," Tseng warned.

Reno leaned forward to look at him, "We promise to behave."

"Just…watch yourself," Tseng told him.

"Yeah yeah, what do you want?" he asked, turning towards me.

"Uh, glass of wine," I said to the attendant.

"Wine? Aren't you fancy," he joked, mocking my drink choice.

"What? It helps you sleep and I for one would rather sleep this flight away."

He looked at me before turning to the attendant and putting in an order for two wines.

"Copy cat," I mumbled loud enough for him to hear me. I brought my bag out and started pulling out the blanket I packed.

"Yeah, but you had a good point," he look down at me as I covered myself up with the blanket. "You packed a blanket?"

"Well…yeah, I don't want to freeze," I told him, pulling it closer to me. "Wanna share?" I offered with a childish grin.

He eyed the blanket and then me up for a second, "Alright, but only because it is getting chilly."

I threw half the blanket over him, covering him up as he took the two glasses of wine from the flight attendant.

"Thank you," I said, taking the wine from him and curling up in my seat.

I laid my head against the window when Reno said, "I'm probably gonna end up sleep on you. You better be cool with that."

I assumed he meant on my shoulder. "Go for it," I told him before I finish my drink and closed my eyes. "Just if you keep drinking, don't climb anything, kay?" I said with a smirk, recalling the stories Elena told me.

I heard him scoff and curse Elena's name.

* * *

"Reno, Reno." I heard my name being called through the haze of sleep.

"Reno." I ignored it; my dream was just getting good.

"Oh god Reno, come on! You're drooling on me," I felt myself being push a bit and I finally woke up.

"Huh," I said, picking my head up. I looked down to see that I was in fact drooling all over Annie's shoulders. "Oh, sorry," I said, wiping it away. "What time is it?" I stretched my arms and yawned.

"6ish," she said. "We won't land for another hour or so. Watch out, I need to go to the bathroom."

I shifted slightly, allowing her room to get through. She headed down the aisle and I turned my head to watch her leave, a smirk forming on my face.

"Reno," Tseng said, breaking my attention.

"Yeah boss."

"I've been meaning to talk to you about certain matters," he started, picking his words carefully. "It's been increasingly clear that you may have…feelings towards a certain colleague."

I knew where he was going with this and I stopped him before he could continue, "Like you have any room to talk."

He gave me a serious look before saying, "Just don't let it interfere with work."

"Wasn't planning on it, yo," I told him, folding my arms behind my head.

Annie shuffled back towards me, still looking half asleep. She climbed over me and curled back up in her seat.

"Tired?" I asked her, leaning towards her.

She stayed quiet, before looking at me and stretching, "I'm slowly waking up."

She sat there in a daze, a balance between sleep and being awake. Then she did something that not only surprised me but made me smile. She leaned against my shoulder, closing her eyes and falling back to sleep on me. I looked down at her peaceful face and pulled the blanket back over us and falling back to sleep as well.

* * *

"Alrighty, sir. We have 3 rooms ready for you, 1 by itself and the other two are connected suites," the hotel attendant said to Tseng, handing him the room keys.

"Reno, Rude," Tseng said, give them key cards to their room. "Elena, Annie," he hand us our keys to our room, the suite that also connect to Reno and Rude. I always wondered when Tseng would stop giving Elena a key to my room, considering that everyone knew that as soon as we had it unlocked she would give me her key and go with Tseng. My guess it was just a formality, but I always just wondered.

Tseng pocketed his own key in his jacket as we made our up the steps.

Outside the doors to our rooms, Tseng looked at us and said "Get settled then meet in Rude and Reno's room in a half hour for a quick meeting."

We all unlocked the doors to the room and sure enough with in seconds Elena was giving me her key and making up an excuse to go to Tsengs.

"Just get out of here," I told her with a knowing smile.

I lugged my suitcase and bag onto the bed, unpacking everything that I need. We were booked here until Saturday and even then our plane was a late flight. Tseng might have said it wasn't a vacation but even still, it was a rather easy going mission. Plus the hotel had an indoor pool, and Reno and I both agreed if we did nothing Saturday, that was what we'd spend our day doing.

I heard a knock on the door that connected me to the guy's room.

"Gee, I wonder who that could be," I said aloud as I walk to the door.

"Long time no see," I told the red head that was leaning against the door frame.

He shrugged his shoulders and eyed me up and down, "Just figured I pay a visit to my favorite skirt."

"Skirt?" I asked, knowing what he had meant.

"Yeah," he said, walking past me, "You never heard that term before? Skirt, like lady or woman."

I nodded, peaking my head into his room to see Rude on the balcony taking a smoke. "I know what it means; I've just never been called that before."

Reno sat on the cluttered bed with all my stuff that I started to unpack. He casually started picking up things, looking at them and turning them over in his hands, one by one. I leaned against the dresser, watching him carefully, both of us not saying anything.

He finally flipped up an orange bottle that rattled from its contents.

"What are these anyway?" he asked, shaking the bottle of pills. "I always see you taking them, but I never remembered to ask."

"Blood pressure meds," I lied. I'd been telling people that for so long now, it almost did feel like the truth. It came out so smoothly, it barely registered when I did do it to other people. But not this time, I wince when I said to Reno, when I lied to him. I hated lying to him, but I knew full well that certain things about my life had to be hidden. And those pills were just the tip of it.

I looked at him, hoping he didn't notice the wince, but he was too busy reading the fake labels that read "Blood Pressure Medication."

He nodded his head before putting them down and picking up my glasses, "My ma took stuff like that. Funny story, when I was 10, I accidentally flushed them and replaced them with candy. She was so mad when she found out," he laughed.

I smiled and joined him by his side on the bed, I felt relaxed that he fell for the lie, but at the same time I felt terrible.

"I could see you being a little misfit as a kid," I told him.

"Oh and whys that?" he asked, putting my glasses on himself and looking over at me, squinting through them.

I chuckled at him, "Because you're a misfit now."

"How do I look?" he asked me. "And if I'm a misfit then you're queen of the misfits."

"You look like a misfit with glasses," I told him, slipping them off his face and putting them back in their case.

He blinked his eyes a few time, trying to see straight. "I'll make a deal with you. You let me wear your glasses and you can wear my goggles."

I look over at him, not entirely sure what he was getting at. "Why do you want to wear my glasses?"

He sat there and thought over an answer. "Because, -"

"You guys going to join us or what," Elena interrupted us, and pointing behind her to the connected room.

We all met in the other room, Tseng was there to explain what was to happen tomorrow.

"We need to people to go to the event, undercover, to see what exactly is going on with Pulski. The president's orders are just to watch, not attack. This is only a spying job. Two people will be at the party, the others will be listening through the wires that we'll have set up on you. Reno and Annie, you'll be the ones at the party."

I'd probably been paying attention 75% until he said the last part, then I was fully attentive. "Wait, why me. Or Reno for that matter." Not that I mind, in fact I actually was all for it, but I was curious.

"The reason we picked you," Tseng said, looking at me, "is since this is a black tie event and if something does go wrong, we already know you can be ready to fight, even in heels, so that factor won't be a handicap."

I nodded my head, "Sounds reasonable."

"And we picked Reno to go with you because you two get along the best. If you need to looks like a couple, you two can pull it off," Elena explained the next part.

"Also," Tseng added, "From asking around, Eli won't be here."

Oh Eli, how I still hated him for stealing that copter. "But," I realized I didn't understand what he had to do with anything, "What does that have to do with anything."

"Which means there will be no one there who will know you," Rude said, pointing to me.

Reno nodded his head understandingly, "I got it, and Pulski knows Tseng and Rude rather well, you two pretty much were his babysitters when he would come visit the old place. But he never knew me. So Annie and I stand the best chance to go in unrecognized."

"Alright, got it," I said, everything making sense. "One problem, I have no "black tie" clothing and I'm pretty sure Reno didn't pack a tux."

"Yeah," Reno said, "I didn't pack- wait I have to wear a tux?"

Tseng ignored his outcry, "You and Elena will go out shopping before the event to pick one up. Reno, Rude will go with you to pick up a tux. In the mean time, I'll get the mics set up for you two to wear."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, getting excited to go shopping for part of the mission.

"Be out the door by ten and be back at least four to get ready. The party doesn't start til 8 so that should give you both enough time to get ready."

I gave him a thumbs-up and said, "Anything else we need to know about?"

"No, you should be good for now. Get some rest, you guys have a long day tomorrow."


	24. Chapter 24

Feedback makes my day, good or bad. Love you all.

* * *

"Oh dear lord, Reno. You're being unbearable," I said to him as I rushed around my hotel room, gathering things together to go out with Elena.

"No," he told me, hanging in between my room and his and Rude's room. "I'm just stating facts. Chocobos do not come in different colors."

"Yes they do," I said as I kneeled down, looking under the bed for my boots. "How did you get this far in life without knowing that? Haven't you ever been to the Golden Saucer, seen them race?"

"Those ones are dyed," he said.

"That doesn't even make sense, Reno," I let out in a sigh, thinking of where I put my footwear.

"They don't come in different colors, and they defiantly don't have different abilities," he said, reaching behind the chair in the room and pulling out the boots I was looking for.

"Yes they do," Rude called from his room.

I gave him a smirk as I took the boots from his hands.

"Whatever, I won't believe it until I see it," he told me, walking to my unmade bed and flinging himself on top of it.

"Yeah," I said, sitting on the edge with him, lacing up my winter boots, "And won't believe you have a brain until I see it."

He looked at me and started opening his mouth but was cut off by a knock on the door.

"That would be Elena," I said as I got off the bed and answered the door.

"Ready to go?" she asked.

"Give me one second," I told her going back into my room and her following. "I just need to grab my purse and jacket."

"What are you doing in here?" she asked Reno as she lean against the wall.

"What are **you **doing in here?" he repeated as I pulled my coat on. She shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Ready?" I asked Elena as she led the way. "Don't forget to lock up," I yelled to Reno as I shut the door.

* * *

"Eh, I donno," I said, pulling back the curtain to the dressing room. "I don't think white is a good way to go. I feel like a bride," I said with a disgusted look while modeling the long white evening dress.

"Yeah, I agree," Elena said. "Reno won't mind, probably," she said, turning me around and zipping me up.

"Reno doesn't seem like the kind to settle down and get married," I said, looking in the mirror.

She stood behind me, another dress in hand, "Yeah, I would of thought that too until recently."

I gave her a puzzled look through the mirror. "What's that mean?" I said, turning to face her.

"Here," she said, shoving the dress in my arms. "Try this one."

I choose not to question it any further as I went into the dressing room.

"So, Tseng is not happy," Elena said through the curtain.

"Oh? Why's that?" I asked, slipping off the white dress and replacing it with the black one.

"Because," she started with a sigh, "Apparently there's a leak in his room and water got into the cases that the mics and wires for you guys were in."

"Oh shi…" I said, "What is he going to do."

"I donno, probably just have you guy update him with texts or something."

"That sucks, but we'll make it work," I reassured her.

"So much better," I said, walking back out. "Plus, if I spill something, you won't be able to notice," I said optimistically, knowing what my luck would be like.

I stood in front of the mirror, smoothing out the front of the dress and turning to look at the back.

"What do you think?" I asked, turning to Elena.

She nodded her head, "I think you'll knock them dead."

* * *

"I can't even remember the last time I wore a tux," I said as we walked back into the hotel. "Probably when I was 12, for my ma's third wedding," I told Rude as I thought back. We had just gotten back from the store and according to my watch, it was 5:30.

"The Shinra Ball," Rude reminded me.

"Oh yeah," I thought back to the giant parties that Shinra use to throw. "They always did make us wear tux's, didn't they." God, the last one was nearly 4 years ago. It felt so long ago.

We walked up to the room to see Elena and Tseng in there.

"You're late," Tseng said, not looking up from what he was doing.

"Yeah," I said, setting the tux on the dresser. "The place was busy. We were lucky they even had one that fit."

I looked over at the pile of wires and mics that were in front of Tseng. I hated being wired. It was had to be the most uncomfortable thing in the world.

Tseng let out a sigh and pushed them away. "I give up; I've been at all day. You guys are just going to have to keep us update."

"What's wrong wi-" I started but Elena cut me off by clearing her throat and giving me a look.

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever." I walked over to the door to Annie's room.

"Leave her alone, Reno," Tseng said as I put my hand on the doorknob.

"I'm just going to talk to her," I said, ignoring him and going into her room. I looked around the empty room before seeing the bathroom door half open and hearing singing coming from it.

"I didn't know you could sing," I said, pushing the door open all the way and leaning against the frame.

She froze where she was, curling iron in hand and wearing nothing more than an oversized t-shirt, leaving me wondering if she had shorts on or not under it.

She set the curling iron down and turned towards me, crossing her arms. "It's rather rude to enter without knocking." I would have thought she was upset with me had it not been the smile that played across her lips.

"Like you really care," I said, walking in further and sitting on the edge of the counter.

"I would of if I was naked," she said, turning down the music she had playing and continuing to curl her hair. "Whatcha need Reno?" she asked after a moment of silence.

"Must I need a reason to visit," I replied, picking up her iPod and looking through her music.

"Never, you're always welcome to visit," she said, "I just assumed with only a little over an hour left, you'd be getting ready by now."

"What, it's only 5 something," I said, checking my watch again.

"Yes, and you would correct if we were still in Edge," she slowly said. "But time change, we're an hour ahead here."

"Motherfuck," I said, rushing out to get ready.

* * *

There was a knock on my door as I sat on the edge of my bed, strapping on my thigh holster for my gun. "Come in," I said. I ran through a mental check list in my head on if I was ready.

Hair, check. Makeup, check. Gun, check. Dress, nylons, and heels, check, check and check.

"Wow," Reno said, closing the door behind him. "You look… beautiful."

I jerked my head up when he said it, speechless. Not only from his compliment but from what I saw in front of me. I looked at him, head to toe, in his tux. Walking up to him, I smoothed out the lapels of the jacket. "You're handsome yourself," I said, truly meaning it. "You clean up well."

He looked me over, giving me a critical look. "You're missing one thing, though."

"Wha?" I asked, looking up at him with a puzzled face.

He reached down around his neck and down his shirt, pulling out a silver necklace he kept tucked away.

"Here," he said, pulling it over my head and leaving it hang around my neck. "Just a bit of jewelry."

I lifted up the charm that rested against my chest. "I wouldn't have pinned you for the religious type," I said to him, looking down at the cross.

He shrugged his shoulder, "Yeah, not really. It was my grandpa's and it's the only thing I really have of his…" he trailed off.

"You were close to him?" I asked, looking up at Reno.

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head.

I nodded back, "I promise to take care of it."

He smirked down at me, "I know it's in good hands."

"Guys, come on," Tseng said, opening the door to the room. "It's 8, you're already late. Get going." He left us alone before coming back in, "And Reno, take off the goggles."

Reno let out a sigh as I picked up my clutch purse. Slipping off the goggles, I brought my hand up and ruffled up the patch of hair that had flattened from them.

"My lady," he said, sticking his arm out for me.

I softly laughed at him as I linked my arm with his and made our way out.

* * *

"Damn, Pulski really went all out for this event," Reno said as we walked to the ballroom.

"Name sir?" the man at the front of the door asked.

"Dr. Xavier," Reno said.

"Last name?" the man reiterated.

"Uhhh…" Reno said, forgetting his fake last name for the night.

"Kilmer," I said for him.

The man went through the list of on names on the clipboard he was holding.

"Ah, yes, go ahead in," he said, stepping aside.

We walked inside as I said, "Really, was it that hard to remember the name?"

"I just figured there wouldn't be more than one Dr. Xavier," he explained as we walked through the upper class event. "Dr. Reno…now that has a nice ring to it," he said.

I couldn't tell if he was talking to me or more to himself. "I feel…out of place," I said, seeing all the highbrow people in the crowd.

"Yeah, me too," Reno said as we made our way to the bar, "I didn't expect this many people to be here."

I leaned against it, looking at all the people out there, women dressed to the perfection and men in their best tux.

I felt Reno nudge me and hand me a drink. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm just... uncertain," I told him.

"Why's that?"

"It's just, something's not right…" I trailed off.

I looked over at Reno, who was nearly chugging the beer he had. He stopped when I saw him and wiped his mouth, "You need to give me a little bit more to work with there, Anastassia."

I glared at him when he said my full name, "It's just that, these people are really, really rich. And well off, I didn't question it til now but…" I looked around quickly to make sure no one was listening and leaned in close to Reno, "If this is for top scientist and doctors, why was Xavier of all people invited. I mean, he's really smart and everything but he's still only 28, he's nowhere near the level that these people are. I mean he's still in debt from college," I explained, hoping I made sense.

Reno processed what I said and shrugged, "I donno, you said they went to school together. Maybe Pulski just wants to throw it in his face that he's doing better than him."

I sighed, "Maybe, I really don't know."

I shut my mouth, thinking in my head. The room was filled with classical music and I watched people dancing in the middle of the floor to it.

I heard Reno sigh. He gently took me by the arm and led me to the tables on the other side of the room. "Come on Ann, it's no big deal probably, ease up. We here to blend in with these people, so that means not let that shit get to you and to have a good time, loosen up." He took my drink and clutch out of my hands and set in on a table. "Now then, let's go dance."

I jolted my head up, "Dance?" Did those words really come out of Reno's mouth?

"Yes, dance, you know, like what they're doing," he said, pointing behind him.

My original speculations were gone now and all I could think about was the sight of Reno dancing. I started laughing, "Alright, we can dance."

"Shall we?" he asked in snooty accent as we stepped onto the dance floor. I couldn't help but laugh again, his mocking behavior of the people around us just got to me.

He smirked at me, "Quit laughing at me," he said, taking my hand. He pulled me close, leading, as we dance to the waltz that was playing.

The song ended and the music slowed. "Where did you learn to dance like that," I asked, resting my head against his chest.

He set his chin on top of my head, "Shinra. Way back when we had events like this, they wanted people like us: Turks, 1st class SOLDIER, and so on…they wanted us to represent the company well, not only have us look good but act good too. So they taught us to dance so when we go to stuff like this, we wouldn't make Shinra look bad."

I chuckled, "Seriously?"

"Yeah, ask Rude, ask Tseng, they had to learn too. What about you, how do you know how to dance so well?"

"Wutai," I said, shifting my head to look up at him. "They made us take dance since we were 12. They said dancing was like fight."

"Oh? How so?" he asked.

"I can't remember," I said with a laugh, "That was nearly 16 years ago."

He let out a soft laugh and looked down at me with a smile.

"I meant what I said by the way," he said. "You look beautiful."

I smiled back, "I meant it when you said you looked handsome."

"Yeah, but you look beautiful all the time," he said, his face had grown serious.

I locked eyes with him as his titled his head down to mine. I felt his lips brush against mine and linger there for what felt like hours.

"Welcome," a voice said over the speakers, causing us both to pull apart. Reno let out a sigh. We both looked at the small stage set up with a podium and microphone. "I am Professor Pulski and I'm glad to see such a large outcome. Please take a seat," the man at front said.

I felt Reno wrap his arm around my waist and lead the way back to our table.


	25. Chapter 25

So this chapter might get rocky. Just hang on and everything will make sense in time.  


* * *

"And with that, I bring you to our next topic: Investment Opportunities," Pulski said, walking back and forth on his stage.

"Oh god, kill me now," Reno mumbled, laying his head face first onto the table. "Two hours," he hissed, turning his head toward me, "This egotistical asshole has been going on for two hours."

I nodded my head, not happy about it either. I sat there with my arms and legs crossed, listening to this prick talk about how he wished to carry on his father's legacy and grow an empire. He talked about himself for the first hour and now his company. I honestly wanted this guy dead just for wasting my time.

Reno sat back up in his chair, stretching his arms out, draping one across the back of my chair. I took out my phone, texting Tseng to tell him, yet again, that we were still listening to him talk about nothing.

"So pretty much the guy just wants to make a new Shinra," Reno whispered, leaning into my ear.

"Pretty much," I nodded back.

He sat there a thought for a second, "And he stole all that stuff….why?"

I shrugged, "Probably because it would be easier than to start from scratch."

"But what about Hojo's super secret "missing files,"" he said using air quotes.

"He said he wanted to carry out his dad's legacy. Maybe his dad was the one that helped Hojo the most on it," I offered as a suggestion.

"Shh…" some bitch turned around and told us.

Reno made a face at her before continuing, "Makes sense, you think Pulski will being doing stuff like that, you know, experiments and stuff."

I shrugged my shoulders again, "We'll just be lucky to get him to shut up."

"Right," Reno said, going back to paying attention to Pulski.

And then, right as he was ending his speech, it happened. First gun shots were fired. The people around us started scream and Reno grabbed me quickly and pulled me under the table with him. Then the lights went. Panic hit the room and I pulled out my phone for light.

"You okay," Reno asked, his face right in mine.

"Yeah, I'm-" I stopped as I watched through the light that was coming in from the windows as Pulski was being apprehended. He was yelling for them to get off of him but 3 armed men had a hold of him. Reno watched too as he grabbed his phone and called Tseng.

"Yeah we have an issue," he said. "Yeah, uh someone's kidnapping Pulski right now... uh-huh... okay." He hung up the phone and looked at me, "We gotta save his ass."

We both got up, running in the direction of the attackers. The lights were on everywhere else as we left the ballroom. "You go that way," I told Reno, pointing down the hall. "I'll go this way." He nodded as we both ran off.

I ran down my own hall, coming to the only door there that led to the outdoor court yard. I pulled out my gun, slowly making my way out, watching my back and carefully checking my surroundings. I stepped on the fresh white snow that sparkled from the moonlight. It crunched under my feet and I took a few more steps out.

"Well, I am surprised this did all work out," I heard the door slam behind me and turned around to see Pulski.

Those armed men that "kidnapped" him were now guarding my only exit.

"What's going on?" I asked, unsure of myself.

"You know, I didn't believe Eli," he said, ignoring my question. "He told me and I said I had to see for myself. And here you are in front of me, I can't believe it."

I took a step back, "What are you talking about."

"Anastassia my dear, don't be dense."

My blood ran cold, how did he know my real name? "That's not my name," I denied.

He shook his head and laughed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Well, we have ways of making sure."

I lifted my gun up, shaking slightly.

"You look just like her, you know," he said, starting to pace around me. "Your mother than is. From the pictures I've seen, you've inherited her beauty."

"Shut up," I told him, anger slowly boiling in me. "What the hell is this, you throw an elaborate party for what? Just for a chance to find some girl?"

He laughed again, "Hardly. You see way back in November, you'll recall you had a run in with a certain business partner of mine, Eli. And like I said, he told me about you, about how Shinra had a new Turk, one with a striking comparison to the girl we've been searching for. So we did a little background check. Searched Shinra's databases and found that they did in fact hire a new employee, an Annie Nick. We then searched your name and low and behold we found that your name is on lease to a house with Xavier Kilmer, an old college classmate of mine. And then it was all just too perfect. This party was already planned for, but if we just sent out one more invite to Kilmer, the chances of you coming were almost inevitable. And if not, then we throw our little party anyway and find you another way." He made his way behind me now.

"So you fake a kidnapping of yourself?" I asked.

"I had to lure you out somehow."

"I'm not the girl you want," I told him.

"You sure do look like her though. And that's a risk I'm willing to take," he said, breathing down my neck.

Before I could reply I felt a sharp and forceful stab in the neck.

I stumbled forward to get away from him, dropping my gun and lifting my hands to my neck, pulling out the syringe that was still in it.

"What was that?" I asked, my eyes widen as I stared down at the needle.

"I think you know," he said, stepping forward. I looked up at him, I could feel my whole body turn white from terror. "Oh not worry though, it's slow acting, you probably won't even feel any effect for a month, Miss Tusnick."

"That's not my names," I said again, standing up straight, throwing the empty syringe on the ground.

"Which is why, if you aren't lying and not the girl we've been looking for," he said, turning around for a split second, "I must do this." He turned around quickly and rushed at me, driving a knife deep into my stomach.

My breathing hitched as I looked down at it, his hands still pushing it against me. "You see," he said, "If you aren't Anastassia, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tusnick, then you're just a Turk that works for Shinra. And we can't have you running off and telling them all this. But if you are, and I am so hoping you are," he hissed, pushing the knife in deeper, "Then this is merely a "flesh wound" to you. You'll bounce right back from this. Not even death can stop you."

He pulled the knife out and I dropped to the ground. "Why?" I said, barely forming the word.

"Because, I want to carry on my father's legacy," he said, walking away.

* * *

"Come on," I said, pushing against the door. Leave it to me, Reno, to get stuck in a broom closet. I pushed again, harder, before busting it open. Thank god for cheap doors.

"Reno!" I heard for the distance.

"Annie?" I walked off to the direction of the calls. I rounded the corner to the hall she had went down. "Oh my god," I said when I saw her. She was grabbing onto her stomach with one hand and the other was propping her up, leaving bloody hand prints across the wall and trail of blood on the floor. I ran up to her, taking my coat off and pressing it against her stomach.

"Annie," I said, trying to stay calm for her sake, but inside I was panicking. She dropped to her knees. "You have to let me see," I told her, trying to figure out the extent of the damage. I lifted my coat away and gently took her hand away from the wound.

I wince and gasped at the sight.

"Reno?" she asked, lifting her hand and holding my face.

"Yeah hun," I said holding the hand against my face, not caring the blood she was getting on me. "I'm here. Everything will be okay."

She was barely conscious when I picked her up and started running. There was no time to let Tseng or them know, I had to get her to the hospital.

"Come on, Annie, stay with me," I kept saying to her as I ran across town.

"I need a doctor! Now!" I yelled, running it to the hospital. The nurse from behind the desk rushed out, calling for help and running over to me.

"What happened?" she asked, leading me down the hall.

"I don't know, I found her and…" was all I could get out when a doctor came and took her from my hands, placing her on a stretcher.

"We'll take it from here," The nurse said, stopping me as I tried to follow her.

"I'm going with her," I demanded.

"Sir," she firmly said, "We will do all that we can for your friend, but you have to stay out here."

She slammed the door in my face and I grabbed the door handle, "Dammit," I hissed, the locked door not budging.

"What!" I yelled, answering my phone that had been going off.

"Reno, what's going on," Tseng said.

I explained the whole thing the best I could, he said he'd be here in 5 minutes and to stay calm. I paced around the waiting room, my mind restless and stomach in knots.

"Where is she?" was the first thing Elena asked as they rushed the room.

I pointed to the room they took her in, "In there," I said softly.

"What did they say?" Rude asked.

I shook my head, the initial panic and adrenaline was wearing off and my body felt weak and full of worry.

* * *

4 years. 4 years I worked with Reno, and I never once I saw him like this. I ran my hair through my short blond hair, looking down on him. He looked defeated, hopeless. Sitting there, his head in his hands, mumbling that it was his entire fault.

"Reno," I said to him, kneeling down in front of him, "it's nowhere near your fault. Annie's strong, she can get through this, you'll see."

He shifted his head away so I couldn't see the tears that were on his bloody face. 4 years, and I had never seen him cry.

And then we waited; the four of us in that tiny little waiting room, until the doctor shuffled out. We stood up, Reno approaching him.

"I'm sorry, we did everything we could, but it was too much for her," the words came our slow and hit us like ice.

"No," Reno said, barely audible. "She can't be, you're wrong."

"I'm so sorry," he said regrettably. "If you want, you can see her now."

He stepped aside and Reno stood there motionless.

Tseng and Rude made their way into the room as I waited for Reno. "She can't be," he whispered to me.

"Come on," I said, leading him down the hall.

It was the hardest thing I have ever watched. There in that room, Annie on the stretcher, blood staining her skin. She looked peaceful. Reno walked up to her body, pushing the hair out of her face.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered to her.

We remained quiet, none of us know what to say, paying our respects before the doctor came to tell us we had to leave.

I half expected Reno to put up a fight, but instead he nodded his head and solemnly followed us as we made our way out the door.

* * *

It's a funny thing when you die. Normal people only experience once. Say for instance you suffer from massive blood lose. First, either slowly or quickly, all the blood pours from your body. Your body goes into shock; you have a hard time breathing. Your heart quickens and depending where you're losing blood, you start coughing it up, all over your new dress, all over the fresh white snow. Your vision blurs as you stumble to get help, pressing hard against the wound. You yell, but even the sound of your own voice is distance, so you don't know if you're actually yelling or if it's a voice inside your head. And through the haze of tears you see someone helping you. They try telling you comforting things while you try telling them the opposite, and they pick you up. By now, you loss all energy, you go limp and your vision is slipping in and out of focus; you barely register that you're in the hospital, doctors hustling around, cutting up your new dress and hooking you up to monitors. By now, you've nearly lost all your blood, your heart has slowed down to a crawl and your breath is nothing more than faint gasps. They pump new blood into you, stitching up your wound, but it's too late. By now, your hearts stopped, your lungs quit, you flatline. They burn your skin with shock paddles and force your mouth open to feed oxygen to you, attempting anything not to lose you, but it's too late. This was death and for most people the end.

But some people aren't normal. Even after death, many people's brain has the slightest, tiniest function; the smallest spark that can last from seconds to minuites. And for the people that aren't "normal", these people have certain cells in their body, and infection if you will, to light this spark and bring you back to life, almost like a safety net. To have your heart start beating, your blood start pumping, your lungs rush with air. You wake up, you can't remember a damn thing, but you wake up, alive and weak. This was death for me, and it wasn't the first time, and it wouldn't be the last.

* * *

My mind was blank, but I didn't care, I knew any thoughts would lead to me thinking about her. I gave her one last look as I stood in the door way.

"Annie?" I said, as I watched her hand twitch. I didn't believe my own eyes, but she did it again and my heart sprang hope.

"Come on Reno," Rude said putting his hand on my shoulder, "You don't need to see this."

"No," I said, pulling away from him and walking back in. "She moved, I saw her move."

"Reno, I know, it's hard, but-" Elena said.

"No!" I yelled back, "I saw it."

I walked up to her body, "Annie, I know you're there, please wake up."

She remained motionless. "Annie?" I said louder.

I held her face in my hands, "Annie!" I yelled.

She let out a gasp, taking deep breath and lifting herself off the table. Her eyes flew open as she started cough, clearing her throat.

"No way," Elena whisper.

For some reason, I started laughing and crying, a mix of emotions I could not control. Pulling her close and hugging her. Her breathing was coming out uneven as she tried getting it in check.

"Reno," Tseng said, trying to pull me off her. "Give her some air."

I pulled away from her; she looked at me and around the hospital.

"Where am I?" she asked. She sounded confused and lost.

By now doctors and nurses had rushed into the room, trying to get us out to treat her.

"It doesn't matter," I told her, pulling her back in to a hug. "Just as long as you're alive."


	26. Chapter 26

Thank for the reviews! You people make me smile!

* * *

"The doctor said it was a miracle," Tseng said as I wheeled Annie down the hall, fresh from being released, the rest of the group following. "He said it's the first time he's ever seen anything like that."

"What exactly happened?" Elena asked.

Tseng shrugged, "He said it's rare, but probably what happened was that her heart and breath slowed down just enough for the monitors not to pick up on it. And once the blood was in her, it just took a few minutes to have her body straighten itself out."

Annie let out a scoff, biting her nails.

"You okay?" I asked, leaning down towards her.

She didn't say anything at first, "Yeah…I just don't like being in this thing," referencing to the wheelchair.

"Sorry girlie, hospital rules. Plus you are in no condition to walk," I told her.

She scoffed again.

"So, you don't remember a thing?" Elena asked her, walking side by side with me.

Annie shook her head, "No, nothing."

"What's the last thing you remember?" Rude asked.

She stayed quiet, you could tell by her face she was thinking back hard. I bit my lip, wondering if she remembered the part about last night that focused on her and me.

"Uh…I remember watching a documentary on Loveless…and that's about it."

I let out a soft laugh, "That was two nights ago."

She sighed, "I know."

We wheeled her outside and she made me stop.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I told her as Annie started to stand up.

She shook her head, standing up, "I'm fine."

She took a few steps before her legs started giving out and let out a gasp in pain.

I caught her before she fell, "See what I mean."

"Quit acting like you don't need help," Tseng said, helping me put her back in the chair. "The last thing we need is for you to tear your stitches right before our flight leaves."

We remained silent, walking back to the hotel to grab our things before going back to the airport.

"What happened with Pulski?" Annie asked.

"Apparently, he can take of himself," I told her. "After all the kidnapping happened, he fought off his attackers and now everyone thinks of him as a hero."

* * *

The flight back to Edge, the car ride home, I said nothing. I hated when stuff like this happens. It jacks my memory so badly; I can't remember a damn thing. Just random bits and pieces that don't make any sense.

We pulled up to my house; Reno got out of the driver's side and came around to my side.

"Careful now," he said, wrapping an arm around me and helping up. God I hated being like this, helpless and needing to be waited on.

"Damn girl, what happened to you," Tidus said as we made our way in. I pointed to the direction of the living room to have Reno help me over to it.

He set me down on the couch. "Long story," I told Tidus.

"You going to okay?" Reno asked, kneeling down to be at level with me.

I nodded my head. "She'll be good here," Tidus told him.

Reno nodded up at him. "Okay, call me in you need anything," he said to me.

I nodded again. "I mean it, anything at anytime," he told me.

He got up and went to set the keys to my car down. "Keep them," I said to him.

"Huh?" he asked.

I smiled at him, "I mean, I can't do anything for two weeks, doctor's orders. Might as well go to use," I said, referring to the car. "Besides, you need to get back to work somehow and you always say how "bitchin" my car is."

"I…no, I can't…" he stumbled over his words, surprised I was offering something precious to him.

"Don't fight her dude," Tidus told him.

Reno nodded his head, his eyes lit up and he cracked a smile on his face. "I promise I'll take care of it. If anything happens, I'll sell you my soul."

I laughed at him, "Before you go, here." I started to take the necklace off he let me borrow.

He shook his head a waved off my action, "Collateral, deal?"

"Deal," I said with another laugh.

"Alright," he said "I gotta get going before Rufus kills me."

I waved to him bye as he started to leave. "And remember call me for anything," he said yelling as he left.

Tidus shook his head and made his way over to me, sitting beside me on the couch. "He so wants you."

I didn't say anything to him as I started zoning out.

"Soooo, how was dying this time?" he asked me, bursting my thoughts.

I shrugged my shoulders and rubbed my chest. "They used shock paddles on me, my chest is killing me."

He nodded, "Did your friends question it at all?"

I shook my head, "No, not at all."

"Well that's good," he said, brushing the whole thing aside. "Hungry at all?"


	27. Chapter 27

Heya, sorry about the last chapter being short. It was either make a short one or add it to this one and make it extra long. I figured I'd just throw it out there separately, get some key points out and have it serve as a transition chapter. Any who, enjoy.

* * *

"You okay?" Tidus asked me, walking into the kitchen.

I was leaning over the kitchen sink; head hanging and eyes clenched shut. It was a month since the events at Icicle Inn and I was getting ready to leave for work.

I nodded ever so slightly, "My head is killing me."

He leaned against the counter, looking down at me, "Take your medi-"

"I did," I cut him off. "I took 4 pills already."

"4?" he said in disbelief.

"Yeah," I scoffed. I was only supposed to take one a day in the morning. The fact that I took four and they did nothing was not a good sign. "I woke up at 2 this morning with this throbbing headache, I took one pill, and it did nothing so I took another. I was up all night from it. I just took two more before you came in."

He laid a hand on my shoulder, "Take some advil or something, maybe it's just a plain old headache."

"I hope," I said, looking up at him.

He looked at me with concern, "In any case, I'd talk to Xavier when you get a chance."

I nodded, "I gotta go, I'm going to be late."

I stared off into a trance, laying my head down on top of my folded arms on my desk.

"Here," Reno said, setting a cup of coffee in front of me. "Drink this; you look like you haven't slept in days."

"Thanks," I mumbled, sitting straight up.

He leaned on my desk and looked me in the face. "You feeling all right?"

"Yeah," I nodded, reaching under my desk for my purse. "Just a headache," I told him as I threw my head back, taking some more medicine and swallowing some coffee.

"Why don't you go lay down," he said to me, leaning in closer. "It's Saturday, a slow day. I'll cover for you."

I took up his offer, thanking Reno and made my way down to down to my room.

* * *

"Where are going? Aren't you eating with us?" Elena asked as I picked up two lunches from the cafeteria and started to leave.

"Nope," I told her. "Gonna run up, check on Annie and give her lunch."

"Reno," she said, "the poor kid already has a headache, don't make it any worse for her by annoying her."

"Ha-ha, Elena." I walked pasted her and messed up her hair. "You're funny, yo."

"Annie?" I knocked on her door, letting myself in. I looked around the room; seeing it empty and not a sign of her in it. "Annie?" I asked again, setting down our food and turning my head to the bathroom. The door was cracked open and the light was on.

I knocked on it, pushing it open slightly to see Annie hanging her head over the toilet.

"Woah," I said, kneeling beside her and laying a hand on her back. "Maybe you should go home."

She shook her head, "I'm fine, just a little nausea." She barely got the words out as she leaned forward and started throwing up.

I quickly pulled her hair out of the way. "Get out of here," she told me once she was done. "I don't want you to see me like this."

"Like hell," I told her. "I've seen worse. Plus you're my friend, I'm not going anywhere."

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, taking a deep breath before getting up and walking out of the bathroom.

"I'm being serious," I told her, following her to the kitchen area. "Go home; pretty sure that's what sick days are for."

"No, I'll be fine," she said, pouring herself some water and grabbing her bottle of pills.

I hesitated to intervene but finally asked, "Are you sure you should be taking that many?"

She cast a side glance, swallowing the meds and snapping back, "Are you a fucking doctor?"

"Well…no…but…" I got out, taken aback by her tone.

She sighed, combing her hand through her hair. "I'm sorry," she apologized immediately. She turned to me, "I'm just cranky, I was up all night and I just want this to go away."

"Go home," I told her again, hold her by the shoulders, "Sleep, feel better in the morning."

She shook her head, looking down at the ground. "I just don't think that's a good idea."

She brought her head back up to look at me and my mouth dropped slightly.

"What?" she asked, seeing the look on my face.

"Your nose…it's bleeding." I told her, bringing my hand under her chin to catch the blood from falling on her.

"Oh shit," she said, covering her nose and pinching it shut.

"Here," I said, grabbing my handkerchief from my pocket and putting up to her face.

She leaned over the sink, pulling the small cloth away, letting the blood pour into the silver base. She spit out some that got in her mouth and said, "Tell Tseng and them I'm going home."

* * *

"Where's X?" I asked as soon as I set foot in the house.

"Up in his room," Tidus said. "What the fuck happened to you," I heard him say as I rushed up the stairs.

"The pills stopped working," I said as soon as I was in Xavier's room.

"What?" he said, turning from his computer.

"My pills," I said, tossing him the now empty bottle. "I finished the whole bottle, and it's barely keeping everything in check."

"Well like what?" he asked, staring at my now red dress shirt that was covered with blood.

"I took about 10 and it didn't stop headaches, nausea, and my nose started bleeding. I just finished the bottle on my way here and it stopped the nausea and bleeding, but my head is still killing me."

"And it just started today?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Have you changed anything, like diet or did you miss your dosage yesterday?"

"No, nothing, I don't know what's going on," I started to panic, holding my head in my hands.

"Just calm down, take a few deep breaths. Everything will be okay," he said, looking from me to the bottle. He set it down and slowly got up and walked to me. He let out sigh before speaking again, "You know what has to be done."

I shook my head. "No," I told him firmly. "Something else, I can't."

"Annie," he said softly, "I know you don't want to, but it has to be done. The pills aren't enough anymore. At the rate your going, you'll be out of them within the month."

"Isn't there anything else? I mean" I stopped and took a deep breath, "I'd be betraying Shinra, my company, my friends," I wanted to cry right now.

"I know, it's hard, but it's either you steal to get the medicine you need, or…you know what will happen."

I sighed, knowing he was right. "I know, I have to," I said defeated, dropping my head.

* * *

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Tidus asked, as he, Xavier, Kalie and I sat around our dining room table later that night.

"Pretty straightforward, go in, steal the medicine," I said, rubbing my forehead.

"Wait, we're breaking into Shinra's headquarters? Here? In Edge?" Kalie questioned.

"No," Xavier said, laying out the maps to the old HQ. "The one in Midgar."

"Oh," she said pointedly. "Well that should be easy enough then."

"Hardly," I said, getting up and leaning over the map. "Since everything with Pulski has come to light and even with the whole Deepground events, security systems have been set up, starting on the 60th floor and going up. That way we don't have to move things we really don't need and but also not have to worry about people stealing things."

"The 67th floor is where you need to go," Xavier said to me. "There should be a storage room there that will have what you need."

"How do you know all this?" Kalie asked. "And how do we know this medicine will work? That you won't go crazy on us anyway?"

He looked up at her, "Because, after everything that happened 3 years ago, all of Shinra's old reports, invoices, and asset files went public. Anyone with a computer could find this stuff."

"And the answer to my other question is..." Kalie said, reminding us.

I sighed, "We don't know."

"This stuff that we're going after," Xavier explained, "is a more concentrated version that the pills Annie's taking. It's in injection form and is a lot stronger. One injection should be the same as 100 of the pills."

"Well then why the fuck haven't you been taking that all along?" she exasperatedly said.

"Because," X said slowly, "It wasn't until about 4 years Hojo came out and mass produced this medicine. He made it for members of SOLDIERs as a back up and was never able to use it. So it got tucked away storage."

"I'm still confused as to why I'm need," Tidus said, raising his hand.

I sighed, "We need you to come with me, to hack in the security system and shut it down. Also, to help me carry stuff away."

"When?" Kalie asked.

"Tomorrow night," I told them.


	28. Chapter 28

"Got everything?" Xavier asked me.

"Think so," I told him, taking a deep breath.

"Okay, I'll be give you directions through this," he said, tossing me a walkie-talkie. "And take this with you, just in case." He handed me an orange piece of materia.

"What is this?" I asked, staring into it.

"Transparent materia. Just in case Tidus fails at cutting the cameras."

I nodded and left, going into our garage where Kalie and Tidus were waiting.

"Ready to go?" Tidus asked, leaning against the truck we were taking.

I climbed in the back, giving Kalie the okay to get going.

My stomach was in knot as we drove there. I prayed that we'd never get there, but before I knew it we were driving through the rumble of Midgar and were parking in front of the old Shinra building.

"Wait here," I told Kalie, walking with Tidus into the front entrance.

The walkie-talkie crackled as Xavier's voice came over, "In the back of the building past where the showroom was, there should be an old loft elevator, you can take that up to the 60th. From there the security system will start so you'll have to stop and cut it so they won't detect the elevator is being used."

"You heard the man," Tidus said, walking ahead of me and taking the lead.

We took the elevator up, both of us remaining silent and stopped as soon as we got to where the security systems took over.

Tidus dropped his bag and pulled out his laptop. Sitting on the ground, he started hacking into the system.

"Are you sure you'll be able to do this?" I asked, equipping the materia Xavier gave me.

"Piece of cake," he told me, focused on the screen. He rapidly typed random codes and numbers, concentration hard on the screen. "And we're good to go," he said with one last click of the keys, putting the laptop away and getting up with me.

"Ok, let's go," I said as we walked back to the elevator and continued our way up.

"Floor 67, this is it right?" Tidus asked, stopping the lift.

I nodded, opened the doors and walking on to the floor full of labs and experiment rooms. "Stay here," I told Tidus, cast the transparent materia, knowing the security was heavier here. "Get the security down on this floor, I'll go ahead and check it out. When you get it down, come follow me."

I walked down the hall, recalling the map I memorized before leaving. "Third door on the left," I whispered to myself as I rounded corners.

I stood in front of the room I needed, the door long gone from the attack it face against the Diamond Weapon. After the first couple steps in, I took off the materia's effect. "How many of these things do I need to grab?" I asked Xavier.

"According to the invoices, there should be 5000 vials in a crate. Take at least 3 crates," he told me.

I looked at the large crates he was talking about. "How the fuck am I supposed to carry these crates?" I asked, leaning forward and wiping of dust from the top. I read the label printed on it, making sure it's what I needed.

"I don't know, I figured you had that figured out," his voice cracked over the speaker.

"God damn," I hissed.

I felt a push from behind, jolting around quickly, ready to attack. "How about this?" Tidus asked calmly, pushing the dolly against me again.

I let out a relieved sigh. "Don't scare me like that," I whispered, starting to load the dolly with crates. "Did you get everything down?"

He nodded his head with a satisfied smirk, "They won't even know what hit 'em."

We loaded the last crate before starting back to the elevator. "That was a lot easier than I thought it would be," Tidus said, leaning against the wall as we went down.

I didn't say anything, kicking a piece a rumble that was on the ground out of the elevator. It skipped down onto the floor we were passing and triggered the security system. Alarms started to blare and sirens went off.

"I thought you disarmed the system!" I yelled at Tidus, starting to panic.

"I cut the all cameras!" He yelled back, pushing the down button to the elevator frantically, as if that would make us go faster. "But I only disarmed the rest of the security on this elevator and the 67th floor, I figured the other floors didn't need it!"

"God dammit!" I yelled, cursing myself for doing something so stupid.

"Just calm down," he said, throwing open the doors to the elevator. "They won't know it was us, let's just get out of here."

We started running through the first floor lobby and out the building, throwing the crates into the back of the truck.

"Go, go, go!" I yelled at Kalie. She tore out of there, driving fast through Midgar, making our way back home.

Within minutes we were back in our garage, Xavier helping Tidus and Kalie take the crates down into the basement.

I slunk to the ground, putting my head in my hands. My head ached and felt my nose start to drip with blood.

"I stole from my own company" I said slowly, Xavier walking up to me. "I betrayed them all, Rufus, Reno, everyone."

"It's for the better," he said, sitting beside me.

"They'll hate forever if they find out. They'll never talk about me, I'll be fired, I won't-"

"They won't find out it was you," Tidus said. "We made it out of there before they could fix the cameras and there's no way to trace it back to us."

I watched as Xavier took a syringe and stuck it in one of the vials from the crate we just stole. He pulled back on the plunger, making sure all the medicine was now in the needle.

"Ready?" he asked. I nodded as he took my arm and injected me with it.

* * *

I turned around in my seat as I watched Annie come in for the morning, whistling a tone.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better," I told her, giving her a smile.

She smiled back, "I feel like a brand new person."

"What was wrong anyway?" I asked, still concerned over it.

"Migraine," she said, "Nasty one too, hate them." She came over to me, putting her arms around my neck, giving me a hug. "Thanks for everything the other day, I owe you."

She let go and walked over to get coffee. "You don't owe me anything," I told her, watching her bend over to pick up the coffee stirrer she dropped. "It's what I do, yo."

"Well," she said to me. "I'm really starting to take advantage of what you "do." I'm going to owe you my soul if we keep this up."

I just laughed at her as she sat down at her desk. "Where's everyone else?"

"Uh...not sure where Rude got to, but Tseng and Elena went off to Midgar. Apparently something went on last night at the old building in Midgar, security systems went off and the cameras were shut down," I explained.

"What the fuck happened there?" she asked, typing in her login to her computer.

"Want to know what I think?"

"Sure do, yo" she said, mimicking me and giving me a smile.

I let out a soft chuckle, "I think a rat just tripped the system, chewed through some wires."

She shrugged her shoulders, "Probably, then Tseng will come back, frustrated that it was a waste of time."

"Precisely," I said, "You took the words right out of my mouth."

* * *

"Oh, you were so close," I said to Reno, wheeling backwards in my chair to pick up the paper football that he had flung.

I pushed myself back to my desk, lining up my shot as he held his hands up into the goal posts.

"Touchdown!" I yelled virtuously as I flung it through the goal and hit him in the face. As much as I hated to say it, and as guilty as I felt from the events from last night, this new medicine gave me a burst of energy. It made me feel so much better and my usual lethargic morning was replaced with a much more peppy one.

"Pssh, lucky shot," he said, waiting for me to finish gloating.

"Not luck man, that's all skill," I smiled at him.

"Okay, who has 15 point and who only has 10, yo?" he said, reminding me that he was still winning.

I scoffed, "Whatever," holding up my hands for his shot.

"What are you guys doing?" Tseng said, walking through the office with Elena following him.

"Working very ha-" Reno started but stopped when we realized they weren't paying attention and were already in Rufus's office, door shut and everything.

"Pfft, whatev," Reno mumbled, going back to his shot.

Five minutes later and we were still playing. "Tiebreaker shot," he said to me. "If I get this, I am the undisputed winner and you have to call me King Reno, ruler of the awesome."

"Umm, I'm pretty I won't," I said, laughing at his request.

"Shh, I need complete silence for this shot," he said.

I rolled my eyes and waited. He hit the tiny paper football and by the time it was midway, Tseng stanched it out of the air.

"Stop acting like children," he scolded us, "if you don't do the work you're supposed to be doing, I'll give you extra so you can stay late."

Reno stuck out his tongue out at Tseng's back. Tseng turned around and Reno just in time straightened up. Clearing his throat he asked, "So, how about that mission? Anything good?"

"Exact opposite," Elena said. "Security went down because someone went in and stole a bunch of medical stuff."

"Like what?" I asked, pretending to be clueless.

"Suppressants of some kind; Hojo made them for SOLDIER operatives, but never got a chance to use them so they were put in storage," Tseng explained. I had the strangest feeling I heard this before…oh wait.

"Find anything there?" Reno asked.

"Not a thing, whoever did it knew what they were doing," Tseng said, sitting on the edge of Elena's desk.

"We're just taking a hunch here, but we're pretty sure Pulski was behind," Elena said.

I nodded my head, a calm taking over my body, "Makes sense, given the past events."

Reno kicked his feet up on his desk and leaned back in his chair, "I really just want to punch that prick in the face. So do we have a plan of action?"

Tseng shook his head, "There's nothing we can do, and we still don't know where he's hiding out at."

"So we wait," Elena said, "That's the plan."


	29. Chapter 29

"We're back here live at the grand opening ceremony of the new medical company Aduro Inc. We are just a few moments away from the president of the company cutting the ceremonial ribbon…" the tv blared. I rolled my eyes and turned away and went back to my work.

"Prick," Reno mumbled, sitting on my desk, eyes fixed on the tv and the remote hanging loosely from his hands.

This was what we woke up to this morning, Pulski finally unveiled his new company and headquarters to the world. A shiny, new building located in Junon.

"Turn that off," Tseng said, walking out from his office and into Rufus's, turning off the tv as he walked past.

Reno sighed, dropping the remote from his hands and staggering back to work.

"What's today date," Reno asked me, leaning forward on him desk.

"Uhh," I said, thinking about it while trying to stay focused on the work I was doing. "August 5th, I think."

He nodded his head, going back to the paper he was filling out. He was silent for a while until he spoke back up, "It's almost been a full year since you've worked here, huh?"

I looked up at him, "Yeah, you're right. In about a couple weeks."

He leaned back in his chair, his eyes focused on me, "You're probably the one Turk to be put through so much in their first years."

"Huh?" I questioned what he meant.

"Let's see, first you get knocked out by some freaky experiment," he said, starting to count of his fingers. He looked around quickly before he said the next part to make sure we were still alone, "Then you burn your own house, then you get your arm broken, and last you get stabbed. What else could you possibly go through?"

"I stubbed my toe on my desk last week," I informed.

"See," he shook his head, "You just like living on the dangerous side, yo."

I laughed at him as Rufus walked into our office.

"You two, this way. Bring your stuff," was all he said as we followed in to his office.

Elena, Tseng and Rude were there too as we walked through his office.

"I have a mission for you guys, over in the Corel Reactor. Seems like someone was snooping in the area. Sensors went off earlier this morning," he said, standing in front of the doors that led to the outside landing.

"Also, it took sometime but, Reno, I have something for you," he walked outside while the rest of us followed.

"No. Fucking. Way!" Reno yelled the last part, making a mad dash to the new helicopter that was right in front of us.

He looked like a kid on Christmas and I couldn't help but laugh. He circled around it, checking it from all angles as Rufus spoke to him. "We were supposed to get a new one two months ago, but I figured I'd wait to spend more money of a more expensive model."

Reno went back and gave Rufus a bear hug. He pulled away, still having a hold of his shoulder, "I could kiss you, Sir."

"Please, don't," he said, taking Reno's hands of him. He dangeled the keys up in front of Reno's face and Reno snatched them up.

"Look at this thing!" he said to me, grabbing my hand and leading me over to it. "I…it's…ahh!" he said, not able to form words as he unlocked it.

Rufus looked at him, "As much as I know you want to sit and stare at, you do have a mission and I do want you guys to leave now."

He walked away as we all piled in.

"Oh dear lord, it feels so good to be back in the pilot's seat," Reno said, cracking his knuckled before starting it up.

* * *

"There's nothing here," I complained, laying down on the train tracks by the old reactor.

"I know, yo," Reno said, sitting beside me, lighting the cigarette that was pressed between his lips. "I said that the fist hour we started searching.

It was nearly 8pm, and after 5 hours, Reno and I gave up looking. Nothing was suspicious; remember Reno's theory about what happened at Midgar? The one that a rat chewed through the wires. Yeah, that's what we found this time. But Tseng insisted we searched the whole area.

We sat there a lit bit longer before Tseng and the rest came up to us. "Come on," he said, walking past us.

We followed him until we made our way into the rundown town of North Corel.

"Uh, what are we doing here?" Reno finally asked, not making eye contact with the townspeople that were casting glares at us.

"It's late," Tseng said, continuing through the town. "We're staying here for the night."

"Uh, what?' Reno said, catching up with him. "We can't stay here. The minute we close our eyes these people are going to kill. They hate us, they hate Shinra!"

"Shh," Tseng shushed him, "I know, but what choice do we have?"

"We could stay at the Gold Saucer," I said with a childish grin, realizing it was only a short ride away.

They turned and looked at me, Reno's face lighting up in agreement.

"No," Tseng said bluntly, not giving it a second thought.

"Yes! Come on, we promise we won't get in any trouble," Reno said, backing me.

Tseng sighed, pondering it over in his head.

"Please," I asked, it was like asking a parent for a toy.

"How can you say no to this face?" Reno said, coming over to me and grabbing it in his hand.

Tseng dropped his shoulders, and started walking towards the directions to the trolley.

"Yes!" I said, slapping the hand Reno was holding up for me.

"But please," Tseng said, turn back around and facing us. "You are still on duty so behave. And just, go to the hotel and change out of your uniform before you do anything."

* * *

"I'm coming, god almighty, calm down," I said, rushing to the door that connect the guy's room with mine, which was being frantically knocked on.

I opened the door to Reno smiling smugly, out of his uniform and dressed in casual clothes. "What?" I asked, pretending to be annoyed and blocking him from getting in.

He shoved his hands in is pocket and looked down at his feet. "I was wonder if you would accompany me out tonight," he said, looking up at me with that snide smirk painted on his face.

"What?" I joked, "Doesn't Rude like roller costars?"

"No, actually," he joked along, "He loves them." I looked into their room to see Rude shaking his head at Reno. "He says I don't take them seriously enough."

I laughed as I moved to let him in. "Give me five seconds to get changed," I told him still in my uniform.

* * *

"Yes!" I yelled victorious, pumping my fist in the air! "Yes, yes yes!"

"No," Reno yelled back. "Not fair, you cheated!"

I slowed down my victory dance and turned to face him, we were in the arcade of the Gold Saucer and I had just finished whipping his ass on the boxing game.

"Oh, and tell me how did I cheat?" I toyed with him.

"Da-uh," he stumbled over his words. "I don't know, but you did."

I walked away from him. "Whatever, you just can't handle the fact that I can kick your ass not only in a video game but in real life too," I patronized him.

"Excuse me," he said, running up to catch up with me and blocking my path. "I highly doubt you could kick my ass."

"Oh?" I teased him some more, "Let's see, maybe you'll recall about a year ago we already put that to rest. I emerged the victor."

He cock his head sideway, "Okay, first you cheated. Second-"

I cut him off, "I cheated? You're the one that cheated. I just-"

He interrupted me this time, "You used your womanly ways to distract me." A smile formed on his lips as he though back.

I shook my head and laughed, "Well, in anycase, a win's a win in the end. Let's agree we both cheated. I just cheated better."

Sighed a shook his head. "Come on," he said, knowing I won this battle as well. "Let's go grab a drink."

* * *

"Nope, I don't believe it," I said to Reno, shaking my head as we both walked up the steps of the hotel.

"I wouldn't lie to you, just ask him," Reno said.

"No!" I said louder than I wanted to. "I am not asking Rude to see a tattoo on his ass," I gritted through my teeth.

Reno laughed at me as we strolled up to the door of my room. "Yeah, that does seem little forward."

"More than a little," I said unlocking it. Before I opened it, I turned to Reno who was leaning against the wall facing me. "I had fun tonight," I told him, looking down at our feet.

When I looked back up, Reno had a sincere smile on his face. "Good, I did too."

I turned back to my door, turning the handle then looking back it, "Want to come in for a drink?"

"I'd love to," he replied before I opened the door and he followed me in.

He closed the door behind me as I went into the bathroom. "Go ahead at get whatever," I told him, pulling my hair up into a half-assed ponytail.

When I came back out he had two bottles in hand and was handing one to me. I grabbed the one from him but he held it firmly in his hands. I looked up at him with a puzzled look, but all he did was sigh, take a step closer to me and set his own drink on the table beside us.

"So I had a huge plan on how to go about this, but I'm just going to say fuck it," he said, loosening the drink from his hands and taking another step closer.

"Go about what?" I asked cautiously, by now we were toe to toe and his breath was hitting the top of my head.

He didn't say anything but just bent down and pushed his lips against mine. I stood there shocked but found myself in a snap. I dropped my drink, not caring where it landed and snaked my arms around him, weaving my fingers into his hair. He deepened the kiss, pushing me against the wall and running his tongue against my lips, seeking entrance.

I let him in, letting him explore every inch as he lifted me off the ground and I wrapped my legs around his waist.

"This wrong," I said breathlessly as he trailed his way down my neck with kisses.

"Want me to stop," he said, looking up at he as he traced my collarbone.

"Please don't," I said throwing my head back and closing my eyes.

He lifted me up off the wall and the next thing I felt was the soft mattress under us.


	30. Chapter 30

It's been a while, and I am deeply sorry. Life's been hectic. Please forgive me.

* * *

"Annie? Wake up," I whisper in her ear.

She let out a groan and pulled herself closer into me. I let out a soft chuckle, contemplating for a second to let her continue sleep.

"Come on," I said, "it's time to wake up."

"Five more minutes," she mumbled, nuzzling her face into my neck.

"I wish, love," I sat up and leaned over her.

She looked up at me through sleepy eyes, sighing that her pillow was now hover over top of her.

"It's time to wake up," I told her again. I leaned down and gave her a kiss on the lips. She gave me a smile before pulling me back into another kiss, deeper and more passionate.

"Annie?" we broke apart, hearing Elena yelling Annie's name and banging on the door.

"Yeah?" Annie yelled back, her face had an annoyed look because of the interruption.

"Have you seen Reno?" Elena asked.

"No, I haven't," she replied, looking up at me with a smirk. I leaned down and started leaving a trail of kissed down her neck.

"Rude said he didn't come back last night and you were the last one with him," she said telling us what we already knew.

"Yeah," she said, pushing my head away from her, trying to get me to stop. "We went out but I called it a night early. Last I saw him was at the races."

I lingered at the base of her neck, sucking slightly, just enough to make her moan. She instantly bit her lip, trying to stop herself and whisper "Stop," to me.

"Alright," Elena said, "Well, we're leaving in about 15 minutes with or without him."

We listened as her footsteps walked away.

"You're evil," Annie told me. She try to sound angry but I could see right though it.

"You liked it," I said.

She reached up and laced her fingers through my hair, her face turning serious. "Now what?"

"What do you mean, yo?" I asked, resting my forehead ontop of hers.

"What happens now, between us?"

"We wake up like this every morning," I answered her question.

She laughed, "Alright, but what I meant is do we keep it just between us or..." she trailed off.

I thought about it for a second before giving my answer, "Let's not tell them but at the same time, not keep it a secret. Let's see how long it takes for them to catch on."

She nodded before leaning up to kiss me. Pushing gently on me, she rolled me off her and got up, gathering her clothes. "Are you going to get ready?" she asked me, slipping on her underwear and bra.

"Nah," I said, rolling on my back and staring at the ceiling. "We have time."

She shook her head, crawling up to me on the bed. "We have 15 minutes."

"Plenty of time," I said back as she turned, sitting on the edge of the bed, buttoning up her shirt. She reached down, grabbing my boxers and tossing them at me. "At least put these on."

She slipped her skirt on and grabbed my clothing. "Up," she ordered me.

I patted the spot on the bed next to me. "Down," I ordered her.

She sighed dropping her shoulders, grabbing me by my arm and pulling me out of bed. I pulled my boxer on as she pushed me to the door.

"You have ten minutes," she said to me, opening the door and pushing me through it.

I looked over to see Rude giving me a questioning look. He turned and shook his head as it dawned on him.

"What, no kiss good bye?" I teased.

She gave me a smile, shaking her head, but she stepped forward and planted a kiss on my lips.

"Ten minutes," she reminded me before shutting the door.

I chuckled, taking steps back and sitting on the edge of a bed, taking in all that had just happened.

"I was wondering when you would finally make a move," Rude said to me, tying his tie.

"Heh, yeah," was all I said, staring at the floor.

I could feel his eye on me, expecting me to say something else. "I'll keep my mouth shut," was all he said as he walked out of the door, leaving me alone.

* * *

"Rude, go down to security, see if everything's back online in Corel. Annie and Reno, start filling out the paperwork. Elena, you and I will report to the president," Tseng said to us as we entered the office.

I set my bag on my desk before sitting down at my desk,

"Will do boss," Reno said as we were left alone in the office.

"Yes?" I asked Reno as he leaned on my desk, staring at me as I started filling out the papers.

"You're not actually going to do that are you?" he asked.

"Well...yeah, I mean, what else would I do?" I looked up at him, confused as to why he was wondering.

"I'm just saying we have tons of time to fill that work out. But right now, we're alone. We should take full advantage of it."

I laughed at him as I got up and circled around my desk. I stood in front of him, grabbing ahold of his jacket and pulling him in towards me, "How do you intend to take advantage?"

"I have something in mind," he said, turning us both and leaning me against the desk. I felt my backside hit against my bag and push it to the ground.

I froze as I heard the clink of glass hit the tile floor,

"Whoops," Reno said, starting to crouch down to pick up my stuff that scattered on the floor.

I scrambled to get to my medicine vials that dropped on to the floor. Reaching all the directions, gather up as many as I could but when I looked back over to Reno, I saw him pick one up that had rolled to his feet.

My breath stopped as he slowly got up, reading the label.

"What is this?" he asked slowly.

"Reno, please, let me explain," I started, not knowing what exactly to say.

"Annie...don't tell me this is..." he said, he looked hurt as he shook his head.

"Please, I'm so sorry but listen to me, trust me that I had no choice," I could feel my heart break.

He didn't say anything, just stood there; staring at the medicine I had stolen.

"Please," I said again, "I'll tell you the truth, just let me. Trust me"

He remained silent before nodding, "Okay, I'll listen."

I let out a sigh of relief but that feeling was short lived.

"Yes, please Annie. Do explain why you have the medicine that was stolen from us," Rufus said standing there with a vial that I hadn't picked up.

I turned around to face him; both Reno and I were surprised to see him there. "Sir," I said breathless, my eyes started to fill with tears, I knew that I was screwed.

"You have 5 seconds to explain yourself. Five..." he started to count down.

"Sir, please, I had to," I pleaded, starting to cry, "I had no choice!"

"One," he finished and almost like it was rehearsed, Tseng, Rude, and Elena burst through he door.  
"Sir!" Tseng said, "What's the emergency?"

"Arrest her," was all Rufus said. I just stood there and stared, had it been anyone else I would have fought, but not these guys. Not the guys I fought side by side, I had too much respect.

"Sir?" Elena asked.

Rufus tossed the vile to Tseng who slowly realized the situation.

"Arrest her then follow me," Rufus said, exiting the room.

I closed my eyes as Tseng pulled my arms behind my back and cuffed me. I looked up at Reno how was sitting in his chair with his head in his hands.

"This way," Tseng said, pulling me out the door.

* * *

We piled into the elevator, going down the levels. I stood in the back, staring at Annie. Was I angry? For some reason I couldn't be. Was I hurt she never told me? Yeah, but I knew there had to be a reason.

The doors slid open and we took a few steps out, Tseng handing Annie over to security guards.

"Wait," Annie said, her eyes flashing with fear, "Why are we here?"

She had a good point, we weren't where the holding cells were, we were on the research floors with the science labs.

"No!" Annie yelled as they dragged her to the labs. "Let me go!"

Rufus walked ahead in the room and spoke to the scientist. I tried to walk in with them but Tseng stopped me, leaving us to look in through the windows of the room.

Annie started fighting against them, trying to get away. "Let me go! I won't be another experiment!" she screamed.

"Experiment?" I questioned. I tired to go in again.

"Reno, no," Tseng warned.

"Why?" I said harshly "I can calm her down."

"To late," Elena said.

I turned and look. They had her held down, needle in arm as they sedated her into a sleep.


	31. Chapter 31

One day I will update like I use to, hopefully soon it will be like the old days. Until then, please forgive me.

* * *

Rufus walked calmly out of the lab, leaving the scientist with instructions. He pulled Tseng aside as I watched them set Annie on an examine table, stripping her of her clothes, taking vials of blood and hooking her to machines.

"Reno," Elena broke my trance. I turned to see us on our way out. I didn't bother asking what we were doing, lost in my own thoughts as Elena dragged me further away from Annie.

"What are they going to do to her?" I asked, trailing behind them as we walked through the parking lot.

"That's none of our concern," Tseng shortly said.

"How can you even say that?" I said, not talking my eyes from the ground.

He turned and looked at me, "She the Science Departments problem now."

He stared me down for a second, making sure I didn't say anything else before turning and walking to a company car.

"Elena," he said, tossing her a set of keys for another. Rude got in a car with Tseng, leaving me alone with Elena in our own car.

After a few minutes of being on the road I finally said out loud the question that would not leave my mind.

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"Reno..." she said softly, "you just need to forget about her."

I ignored her advice. "She could have told me anything. I just don't understand."

She sighed, "Let it go, harping on it won't help."

"She had to have a reason, why else would she do it?" I asked myself out loud.

She sighed again, realizing I wasn't listening to her

It was quiet again as we followed Tseng and Rude.

"Where are we going?" I asked, finally caring.

Elena said nothing, gripping the wheel tighter and not making eye contact.

"Elena?" The fact that she wasn't answering the question made me uncomfortable.

That's when we turned the corner and I found myself staring at a too familiar house.

"You're kidding me right," I said slowly but firmly, eyes locked on to Annie's house. "What are we doing here?"

Elena slowed the car to a stop, parking behind Tseng. She said nothing.

"Answer me Elena!" I yelled louder than I wanted to.

She turned the car off, turning to me to say "It's just a simple mission, just obtain the stole paraphernalia and…" she trailed of biting her lip.

"And?" I pressed.

Sighing she said "Arrest all who live here."

"No," I shook my head, "No, I'm not doing it."

"Fine," she replied getting out of the car. What did she mean by 'fine.'

I got out the car to hear what she was saying, "That leave the three of us to arrest the three of them." She followed Tseng and Rude up the step of the porch.

"You can't be serious?" I question, getting frustrated that they wouldn't listen to reason as I nipped at their heels.

"Reno," Tseng said in a testy voice, "I can understand if you don't want to help, but don't get in our way of getting the job done."

I went to open my mouth but I closed it promptly when Elena turned to me and gave me a pleading look not too.

Tseng opened the unlocked door, walking in as if it were nothing. I followed them in, leaning against the wall and staring at the floor.

"Elena, Rude, check the basement," he instructed.

While they started down the stair, Tseng himself searched the living room and kitchen.

* * *

"I'm jealous, she sent me a text last night saying she was at the Gold Saucer. Do you know how bad I've wanted to go there. Ever since they put in that casino…" I trailed off, imagining myself owning at the blackjack table.

"That's nice Tidus," Kalie said, hunched over her desk in her room.

"Man, I wish my job let me travel to places," I complained, throwing myself on her bed. "But no, I have to be a teacher, no going places there."

"That's nice Tidus," she said again.

"Maybe I could convince them to let me take the kids on a field trip there. That way I can gamble some of the school funding." I said more to myself then anyone. "That'd be so awesome, get drunk and…" I stopped, hearing a noise from downstairs.

"Did you hear that?" I asked Kalie.

"Hear what?" she said, not once looking up from what she was doing.

"That noise…it sounded like it came from downstairs…" I said, getting off her bed.

"I donno, maybe it's Xavier," she mumbled.

"No, he's asleep, nightshift tonight," I told her, making my way to her door.

"Annie then, maybe. I don't know…what's it matter?" she said, finally looking up.

I shrugged, she was right, it was nearly 7, Annie would be stumbling in now. I turned back around to see her back to what she was originally doing.

"What are you doing anyway?" I asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Filling out job applications," she mumbled.

"Finally," I chuckled out.

She shot me a glare that didn't last long when we both jumped from the sound of a glass shattering downstairs.

"Yep, you're right, she's home," I said, lazily turning around and making my way to see Annie.

"Annie, quit breakin shit down there," I yelled as I walked down the steps. Half way down the I saw not Annie, but rather the red-head she worked with.

"What's up Reno…and co." I said stepping a few more steps to see another man dress similar but more cleaned up and obvious Wutian origin

"Sir," I heard another voice and stopped, three steps from the bottom. A blond came through the basement door and I felt a twinge of panic. "All the stole medicine is down stairs," and she tossed him a vial

The Wutian man look up from the vial to me and I looked from him to the blond, then to the tall black man that was steps behind her. I gave one last look at Reno, who said nothing but just stared at the floor.

"Oh shit," I said before bolting upstairs.

I heard orders given out to go after me as the chased me.

I pounded on Kalies door, yelling the words "Code Red."

"Code Red?" she yelled back, opening the door "What in the world are you talking about?" she asked as I ran to Xavier's door at the end of the hall.

The Wutian had made to the top of the stairs, Kalie saw and grasped the situation. "Fuck!" she yelled, slamming the door.

I flung open Xavier's door and closed it, pushing all my weight against. My heart sunk as I heard the order for them to arrest Kalie.

"What's the hell are you doing?" Xavier asked, not to pleased to see that I had rudely awoken him.

"Uh yeah, hi," I said, feeling them trying to open the door. "Shinra's here for their stolen shit and more."

"And more?" he repeated…getting up in disbelief.

"Let me go!" I heard through the door as they struggled with Kalie.

Xavier sighed and shook his head, "Is there anyway out?"  
"Not without a fight," I said, pushing harder against the door as the pushing back became more violent. "And from the sounds of it, they already have Kalie."

"Which means they probably have Annie already," he mumbled. He was quiet before saying "Well…we're in this together.'

I nodded my head, remember the promise we made together. If one of us were caught, we all were. I took a deep breath before stepping back from the door.

* * *

"Wow, could you put these cuffs on anymore tighter," I heard Kalie say as they made their way past me on the porch.

I took as drag from my cigarette.

"Oh hey, Reno," I heard a snarky voice come up from behind, "Yeah, how's it feel to betray someone who genuinely cared about you?" Tidus asked bitterly as Tseng pushed him past.

I stared at the ground, his words hitting me right in the stomach. It felt terrible and all I wanted to do was tell him that, to tell Annie that. I wanted to do nothing more than to have this day never happen.


	32. Chapter 32

"I think it would be best if you went home."

"What." I said back to Tseng as he step in front of my path toward headquarters.

"Look, you've had a rough day," he said, taking my shoulder. I shrugged him off. "I'm, just saying go home, relax and clear your mind. It's almost 6 anyway."

"No," I refused "I have to go see her, talk to her."

His gentle look turned to stone, "Guards have been set up to regulate the labs and make sure that no one has access to her."

"You can't be serious?" I felt anger brew in me.

"It's not that we don't trust you," Elena started, trying to defuse the situation.

"Why can't I see her then?"

She opened her mouth to answer but words failed her.

"Look, she needs help. They took her to the labs, you and I both know they'll just run experiments on her, how is that fair? She won't have a voice, let me talk to her, she can tell me what's going on," I tried to reason.

The three of them were quiet until Rude spoke up, "Go home."

I looked at him with disbelief. My own partner wouldn't even listen to me.

"Fine," I threw my hands up and started walking back.

* * *

"Think he'll come in?" I asked Rude, leaning over my desk slightly. It was 9 in the morning the next day, and so far, no sign of Reno.

"Yeah," was all he said as the door behind me closed shut. I whipped around to see the redhead walking gingerly in, sunglasses over his eyes, his face unshaven and his uniform even more crumpled. The word "hungover" was practically written on his forehead as he said nothing and went to pour himself a coffee.

The coffee poured onto the floor, missing his mug completely. I got up to help.

"Reno, I know yesterday was rough but-" as I grabbed the mug from him he turned to look at me, a strong wave of alcohol hit me in the face. "Oh my god Reno, you reek of booze," I whisper harshly so Tseng couldn't here. If he knew Reno came in like this, good things would not come of it.

"So," he slurred, grabbing him still empty mug and shuffling to his seat.

Rude by now had gotten up and stopped him, blocking his way.

"Look, I know you're upset," I whispered, "but that's no excuse to act like this."

"What," he said, "You want me to miss work too?"

I sighed, "No, just," I let out a defeated moan, thinking of a solution, "Just go down to your room and sleep it off."

"Not till I see Annie," he said, stopping me from walking away.

"If you're good," I made an empty promise.

"Well, then, I'll go to bed," he said in a mocking way as he stumbled out.

* * *

At twelve thirty, I excused myself to go check on Reno. I cracked the door open, check to see if it was safe to go in. I found him sprawled on his bed, it looked like as soon as he got here, he passed out. I bit my lip, wonder what I was going to do would be the right thing.

I sighed making my mind, "Reno, wake up." He stirred slightly, but didn't move. "Come on Reno, before I change my mind," I said, shaking his shoulder.

"Wha.." he said, lazily, slowly getting up. I grabbed his head, the side effects of the alcohol taking over.

"How did I get here?" he mumbled looking around.

I looked at him in astonishment, "What? Don't you remember this morning?"

"I don't even remember last night," raking a hand through his hair. "What do you want?"

I looked from him to the door that was still opened to the hallway. I quickly shut it, "Listen, its lunch right now, everyone is on break including the guards to the labs. Rufus was going to have Tseng take over, but he never saw you come in for work so he feels no need to," I said in one quick breath.

"What do you mean?" he asked, taking it in.

I dropped my shoulders, "I mean go see her."

He got up, eyes wide, "Really?"

I nodded but held up my finger at him, "But be aware I'm doing this for you, not her."

He pulled me into a tight hug "Thank much."

I laughed, "Go, you just wasted five minutes.

He pulled away, the first smile in the day was on his lips, " I owe you one."

I nodded and smile back and he broke off into a run out the door.

* * *

I practically jumped down the stairs and when I got to the right floor, Elena was right, not a soul was on it.

The lab was brightly lit with examine tables, microscopes, computers and instruments that I had no clue what they were or how to use them.

At the end of the room, inside the wall were four separate rooms. Much like prison cells but instead of bars, glass divided me from entering them. Only two were brightly lit like the room. One had a monster in it, and the other appeared empty. As I stepped closer I saw her. Annie was sitting the bed that was flush against the wall, legs to her chest, and head on her knees.

"Annie," I called out, hoping she could hear me through the glass.

Her head snapped to my voice and she sprang from her bed at the sight of me.

"Reno?" it wasn't a statement, but more of a question to confirm that I was in fact there.

"Yeah, it's me," I said softly, trying to give her a comforting smile.

She looked scared, spilling apologies from her mouth. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this. I…"

I shushed her, "I know…"

We were both silent and I finally got a look at her. She was in nothing more that the dress shirt she wore for work, it hung below her waist, whether she had something under it wasn't what caught my attention. Blood covered the front and before I could question where it came from, I noticed the dry blood that was under her nose and on the corner of her lips.

"Please," she begged "I'm not asking you to bail me out; I just want the President to hear me out."

"I do hope he wasn't planning on bailing you out," I heard from behind me. I turned to see Rufus walking toward us.

"Reno, I wasn't expecting you to be in today," he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"Sir, please, she needs our help," I started.

"Oh she's, getting help; the scientists have everything under control. Isn't that right Annie?" he raised her voice so she would hear him.

"Go," I heard. I turned to her.

"What?"

"I said go," she turned and sat on her bed. "I'm not worth you getting fired."

"You heard the lady," Rufus said.

"I'm not leaving till he listens," I said, pressing my hands to the glass, trying to get to her.

"Go," she yelled. "For me."

I stared at her for a second. "Okay," and I walked away, Rufus two steps in front of me.

"She needs our help," I said as soon as we walk into the Turks office.

"And you need to stay in line," he said, walking away.

"Do you think this is a joke?" I raised my voice. "She is dying down there, I know you can see. Look at her! They're treating her like an animal. She's a person, not a lab rat."

"She's a thief," he turned with a bitter look on his face.

"She obviously had a reason! She needs the medicine!"

"Yeah, that's what every druggie says…"

"So what, you think she stole because she was getting her "fix"?" anger took over me as I took a step closer to him.

"No, I think she stole because she thought it would get her a raise," sarcasm was heavy in his voice.

"I've seen what happens when she doesn't take the medicine, this is serious. I don't want to know what will happen if this continues," I reasoned.

"Why do you care," he said, folding his arms.

I stumbled over words before saying "She's my friend."

"Know what I think" he said, stepping close to me. "I think maybe she's more than that. And I also think maybe you shouldn't have gotten a highschool crush on your co-worker. Now looks where it's gotten us. You're a Turk, goddammit, Act like one. Don't be so weak." He ended sharply before slamming the door to his office.

I stood there motionless, his word ringing in my ears. 'Don't be weak," the same thing I use to tell Elena. Was I being weak?


	33. Chapter 33

Without a doubt, this was turning out to be the work week ever. I sat there for the rest of the day, slumped over my desk, trying not to make eye contact with another person. And for the next day, I did the same thing. By Thursday, I was the master at staring at the wall. Time after time I was told to just take the day off, but if something happened, I wanted to be there and ready for it.

Then finally, it did.

"Reno," I snapped my head up to see Rufus standing in front of me. For a second I thought I was in trouble, he was going to yell again, but his face told a different story.

"I need you to do me a favor," he stated.

"What?" I asked, a little apprehensive.

"We found some irregularities in Annie's blood and cells and we need to do some further testing."

"So?" I scoffed; I didn't understand why he was telling me this.

"So," he breathed, trying to ignore my reply, "there's only one problem. I guess since she's been admitted, she stopped eating and they can't do the tests with her malnourished. I want you to go down and talk to her, make sure she eats something."

"So trick her so you can test on her more?"

Again, he took a deep breath. "You want to see her right? Here's your opportunity."

I looked at him for a second, and I nodded, knowing this was the way it was going to be.

I got up and started to leave and I heard Rufus order Rude to follow me.

We went down to the lab and they let us right in. Walking to her cell, she was sitting in a metal chair, her back towards us. Her white shirt was a dingy color and her curly hair hung limp, even the color looked faded. Her head was hanging down and arms hung limply at the sides. As I got closer I saw that her skin was tinted blue, like she was cold or even…dead.

"Annie?" I asked stepping closer, fearing the worse.

She didn't move.

"Annie!" I said, this time louder and pounding on the glass.

Her body visibly twitched and I gave a sigh of relief.

Then it happened. Her shoulders started to shake and she made what at first started to sound like sobs. She started to shake harder, she picked up her and I realized wasn't crying, but was letting out a laugh and it grew into a loud cackle.

When she was done, she snapped her head my direction and got up, throwing the chair against the wall. But none of that compared to what I was staring straight at, her eyes had changed. Her once caring green eyes were now a piercing purple.

"Annie?" I said softly, trying to take everything in.

She moved toward the glass wall, in an almost animal like way. I felt Rude grab my arm to try to pull me back.

"Annie," I said, trying to connect with her.

She straightened up, giving me a smirk before saying "Who?" Her voice was lower and slightly gravely, not the voice that I had come to know and love.

"Annie," I said again, taking another step closer "Annie, what's wrong with you?"

"My dear boy," she said "Annie's gone."

"What?" I let out in a whisper.

"She's gone-" she took another step forward but stopped and grabbed her head and let out a scream of pain. She doubled over and her knees gave out.

She let out another yell and picked her head up, her green eyes flashed up at me.

She took a few deep breathes. "Reno?" she asked, in a sort of dazed state.

"Annie!" I got down on my knees so I was eye level with her.

Her eyes flashed with panic as she said "Get out of here."

"What?" I asked.

She let out another scream and clinched her eyes shut. When she opened them again they were purple.

She blinked and they were back to green.

I had no idea what was going on but I knew there was something inside Annie that wanted to take control. She was fighting back and her inner struggle left me calling her name, trying to get her to stay with me. A siren rang out as a computer voice said "Code Red: Subject Out of Control." I felt myself being pulled away as two scientists opened her cell. Within seconds they had her sedated. They pushed us out of the lab as they started to check her out.

"This has gone to far," I said, throwing open the doors to Rufus's office but by the time I charged in there, word of what happened had reached him.

"Now what?" I asked, my voice shaking with a combination of rage and worry, "Something is seriously wrong and if you don't do something, so help me-"

"Get the three we arrested the other day up here," he said to Tseng, cutting off my threat. "We need answers."


	34. Chapter 34

With in minutes we had Tidus, Xavier and Kalie with us, standing before Rufus's desk.

"Lock the doors," Rufus instructed to Rude. "I don't want anyone interrupting us."

"What's wrong with Miss Tusnick?" He asked, keep is formal. Tidus raised his eyebrows looking down the line at Kalie and Xavier. Depends on what you've done with her," he said, turning back to Rufus. "There's a lot wrong with her. Last time I saw her, she was complaining about how she ran out of her good eyeliner. Is that what you're talking about?"

"This is no time to be snarky," Rufus said shortly. "Why don't we start with why your motley crew stole from our company?"

"Well, that's a long story," was all Tidus said.

We waited for him to tell it.

"Go on," Rufus finally said after he was silent.

Tidus said nothing, only lifted his still cuffed hands infront of him.

Rufus sighed and nodded to Tseng, who uncuffed the trio.

Casually taking a seat, he rubbed the stubble on his chin before beginning, speaking slowly, "As you are well aware, a certain scientist use to work here. Hojo. It's no secret that Hojo was manic over Jenova and experimenting with it. We all saw the result of Sepiroth and other projects he worked on." He paused before continuing, choosing his words carefully. "But that wasn't enough. He wanted more...he wanted, in theory, to essentially create a clone of Jenova. To transplant, inject, radiate, and any other means that would get enough Jenova cells into a human body... enough to awake Jenova within that body. And it wouldn't be just another Sepiroth. No, instead infuse Jenovas soul, it's being, into a human shell."

"And you know this how?" Elena asked skeptically.

"Let's save the questions for the end toots," Tidus replied.

I could hear Tseng sigh, agitated.

"There was a lot of trial and error when he began this experiment." Xavier picked up right were Tidus left off "Adult subjects were too developed to accept all the cells. Rejection was common and the end results were just lesser copies of Sepiroth. He then tried fetal stage, in uetero experiments. The opposite was the result, the amount of cells were too much, leading to miscarriage and death to the fetus. What Hojo concluded, the best median for this experiment would be an infant, only a couple weeks old, that way the test subject was stronger enough to accept the cells and could grow and adapt to them. The next problem found was that to use a male, testosorne levels were to high, instead of creating a Jenova, you would, once again have a Sepiroth. So, that left him looking for a little, baby girl."

"Which leads us to Mr. Tusnick." Tidus continued. "At the time, he was nothing more than a newly hired lab worked and a soon to be father of a girl. He also knew that Hojo was looking for one, so he lied. He told Hojo his wife was expecting a boy."

"That's why-" I cut in, realizing a key element. But Tidus held up his hand an interrupted me

"Yes, that's why Annie's birth certificated read they had a boy," he said.

"How did you know about that?" I asked, forgetting the 'no questions' rule he established.

"We're Ann's bests," he said as if it was common knowledge, "she keeps us informed on things pertaining to this situation. Any one got a smoke?"

I handed him a cigarette and lighter, I'd give him anything to explain everything. Like a pro he lit it up, taking a drag before continuing. "It wasn't long after Annie was born that Hojo found out that the Tusnick's baby was infact a little girl. And after having them murdered and the files updated to say that they and their "baby boy" were tragically killed in a car crash, Hojo wasted no time to begin the experiment. And everything was going swimmingly for him, Annie took to the treatments as planned and Hojo expect to see the results in no time. They only had a few more phases left until all they had to do was sit back and watch as Jevona took control of the body.

"He had to do one more round of injects for his plan to be complete, that was until Professor Gast caught wind of what he were doing, He shut down the experiment, stopping the operation. There was just one issue, with the amount of Jevona cells that were placed in Annie; it was only a matter of time before it takes over her body. It would be slow, not instant like Hojo had plan. So, with little choice, Gast created a suppressant, and drug that would keep Jenova at bay as long as Annie took her medicine. Gast put her in the only orphanage at the time, leaving a note with some bull shit story about how she had some stupid disease that required her to take this daily medicine, and she lived happily ever after, popping pills so she wouldn't have some creature take over her body."

Pausing to take another smoke, he looked over at Kalie and Xavier, who nodded at him to continue. "Then, something happened, don't ask what, because we still don't know." His tone this time was a lot more solemn, "A few months ago the pills stopped working. Before then, one pill a day, but she was taking a whole bottle at this time, and it was barely enough to stop the symptoms. Also, the symptoms were happening faster. Before, it was estimated that it would take a little over a week for Jenova to take full control. Now, judging from how fast they symptoms were progressing, it would only happen in a matter of days."

I swallowed hard; it had been 4 days since her medication was taken away. I prayed in my head that they were wrong or that what I saw was just a short term side effect from the test that the scientist were now doing to her.

"We had no choice," Kalie finally spoke for the first time. "What we stole were suppress were newer and stronger, they were given to SOLDIER members that were given Jevona cells. It was the only options, the only thing that could stop Jevona from taking complete control. If we hadn't stolen that medicine, Annie would be dead and who knows what Jenova would be doing, wearing her skin."

"Dead." I repeated.

"Yeah," Xavier said slowly, as if it pained him to say what was next. "Annie's soul will be destroyed in the process."

"You don't know that," I replied angrly. "Yeah," Tidus said, just as disgusted, it was obvious they had different views as to what would actually happen to Annie if this did happen. "You don't know what would happen. Just because Hojo theorized that Annie "soul would then evacuate the subject's body" doesn't make it so."

We were all silent; as we took in everything they had just finished telling us.

"I take it the reason why you brought us in was because you took her off the medicine and you don't know what the fuck is going on with her?" Tidus asked bluntly.

All Rufus did was nod and everyone was once again quiet.

The silence held weighed heavy before it was cut off by the beep of Rufus's intercom. "Sir, we have a situation," Karen said on the other end.

"Not now," Rufus replied into it.

"How long?" Xavier asked.

"How long what?' Rufus questioned back.

"How long has she been off the meds?" he clarified.

"Sir!" The intercom yelled.

"Four days," I said, ignoring the intercom.

"Later!" Rufus yelled in the background to the intercom, unplugging it.

Xavier sighed, closing his eyes and spoke ""First symptoms to develop include headache and nausea. Vomiting and nosebleeds, along with heaving breathing. The body then will slowly break down; heart rate slows down to nothing more than a crawl, causing the skin to grow cold and blue. Hair color starts to fade and the subject has little to no function, leaving her in a trance like state. It is after this we see Jenova starting to emerge, the body will fight back. Iris colors will change color between the two beings.""

"How do you know all that?" I asked, as he recited exactly what I saw only minutes before.

"Professors Gast's notes," he replied.

"You have his notes?" Rufus said, standing up, alarmed that somehow these files were taken from Shinra.

I didn't let them answer, wanting my questions to be answered first. "What's next then?" I stepped forward, needing to know if we still had time to save her.

Xavier shrugged, "Gast was to afraid to go any further and administered the medicine. We don't know what's next"

I breathed heavily, whipping around to Rufus and the other. "Sir," I said, "Please, we don't have much time, give her the medicine."

"There are still many unanswered questions, like how they know all-," he said, walking around to the front of his desk.

"And we can ask them, just not now. " I was pleading with him at this point, frantic to help her.

He sighed before nodding. "Go, tell them to admister Jenova suppressants to test subject C."

"On it," relief sweeping over my body. I made a dash for the door but stopped when there was a heavy thud bang against it from the other side. I slowed to a stop, standing a few feet from it as another thud sounded and the doors shook. It was as if someone was trying to break through. I took another step forward.

"Stop," Tidus said, who had gotten up from his chair and was making his way beside me.

A third thud, then a forth. Then, nothing.


	35. Chapter 35

I looked at the door to the group that had formed behind me. I took a deep breath and decided I would be the one to see what all the commotion was. I was a foot away when I started to hear sobs from the other side. Without wasting another second I swung open the door to see Annie slumped against the reception desk, crying next to the body that was Karen. Annie's head snapped up when she heard the door open and she scurried backwards away from me.

"Annie," I said softly, trying to calm her down. She looked like a frightened kitten. "What happened?"

She shook her head, trying to suppress the wave of sobs. "Stay away," she choked out, standing up fully and holding a hand out.

"No," I said, walking to her, holding her gently by her forearms. I started walking backwards, leading her back to Rufus's office. "We're going to make you better, you can stay here and we'll go down to the labs-"

"No, no," she kept muttering over top of me, tears spilling out as she shock her head more. "It's too late."

"No it's not," I told her, struggling to keep hold of her as she tried to fight out of my grip. "We're going to get you your medicine and all this will be over."

I turned the both of us so the seven of us in the room now surrounded her.

She pushed my hands away as she started to back away and past Tseng and Elena, stopping only when she up against Rufus's desk.

"No," she whispered. "It's too late, I- it's to strong. I'm...I'm to weak to fight it anymore."

"Don't say that!" I said, advancing to her as she skirted around the desk.

She let out a gasp that stopped me cold in my tracks. Her face contorted into a painful expression. She bit her lip to stop from yelling, as she fell forward on the desk, using her hands for support.

"Annie, stay with me" I yelled, trying to keep her attention, trying to stop Jenova from taking over. I leaned over the desk and grabbed her face, pulling it up to look at me. Her green eyes locked with mine as she yelled through her teeth. "Someone go," I yelled back to the other, "go and get the medicine."

I head the door close as somebody left.

Xavier and Tidus had rushed to the desk, one on each side of me.

"Annie, come on, you can fight this," Tidus said to her while Xavier asked her "Annie, what's wrong? Where's it hurt?"

"My back," she let out in sobs. "It's like someone's stabbing me."

I rounded the desk, putting a hand on her back asking her where.

"Higher," she said.

I slid my hand up to left shoulder blade and felt a strange feeling. It was as if something was pushing against the skin, trying to get out.

The look on my face must have told the other something wasn't right because there wasn't a beat missed as Xavier told me to take the shirt of to see.

With time ticking away, I pulled my switchblade from my pocket, pulling it up quickly against the fabric, letting it fall to the ground in one motion. What I felt was exactly what I saw, something trying to break through the skin. I pushed her bra straps aside to get a better look and checked to right side to see if the same effect was happening there. When I saw that it was just the left, I shifted sights back to the left.

Annie let out a yell as she arced her back forward. My breath stopped as I watched something black pierce through the surface, then another one a hair lower than the first, then another. Hundred if not thousands started to rush out of her back and before I could get a look at what they were, they made a straight line at me, hitting me hard and pushing me to the ground.

I jumped to my feet and stood frozen at the sight before. Annie was hunched over with her eyes closed, arms wrapped around herself, breathing hard and from her back was a giant black wing that sway ever so slightly.

"Annie?" I said, swallowing hard.

She kept her eyes closed and grinned.

"There is no Annie," said a low voice. She whipped her hair back as it flashed from dull brown to silver. She turned to face me, opening her purple her eyes.

Annie's soft face had turned hard and sinister looking; the figure in front of me was almost an exact replica of the Jenova I saw in labs long ago.

"No," I whispered, my heart sunk.

We all watched her as she put her hand in front of her face, turning it slightly, checking out her new body.

"Finally," she said, "I have control, no more of that pesky girl."

"No," I said again, "Annie, listen to me, I know you can hear me. You have to-"

Jenova turned away, ignoring what I had to say. She lifted her hand at the back wall as a ball of light started to grow in her front of her palm. It grew to twice it size before it shot out and blew open a gaping hole to the outside. She started to walk her way to the hole but I intoned to stop her.

"No, you aren't going anywhere," I ran to her.

"Reno, no!" Elena yelled, grabbing a hold of me.

"Let go!" I snapped at her, trying to push her off me, only to have Tseng grab me to. "I said let go!" I yelled, giving them both a hard shove. By the time I had them off Jenova had stepped of the side of the building, dropping down.

"Annie! I yelled, running to the edge. Her body shot straight up in the air, as she took flight of into the distance.


	36. Chapter 36

"Out of my way," I said, pushing past Elena and Tseng. I made my way to the helicopter pad.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rufus asked, not far behind me.

"What do you think? I'm going after her," I replied.

"No, we're going on lock-down," I heard him say with a snap of fingers. I turned to see him pointing from Rude to me, a signal for him to stop me. "We need to do damage control," he added, picking up his phone.

"Like hell. I'm not going to stand by while she's out there," I said "She needs help."

"She just blew a hole in my building and killed my receptionist. This building is being shut down, no one gets in or out until we have things in order and people here taken care of."

"Whatever," I said, not listening to him.

"I said no Reno," Rufus said, by now Rude was facing me, hand on my shoulder to stop me. "What's you're plan anyway? Just fly around until you spot her? You'll be wasting time." I sighed, he was right, I had no plan. "She won't sit quietly for long."

I turned back to him and nodded. "Fine."

"Alright then," he said, taking a deep breath before continuing "Tseng, go down to 1st, shut down the entrance. Rude, go to security and have them search the building. Have them get a damage report ready and get injured to the infirmary. Reno and Elena, take these three back to their cells," he ordered while walking out of his office.

"What!" Kalie exclaimed, "Oh come on, we helped you guys-"

"Kalie..." Tidus said to her, he sounded defeated. "Just do it."

We were all quiet as we walked down and silently, we locked them up.

I started to trail after Elena as we walked away from them, but I stopped and turned to Tidus's cell.

"You guys disagree whether Annie is still alive after Jenova took over. What makes you think she is," I asked him. I don't know why I did, maybe I just need justification to go after her.

He just stared at me before a second, thinking it over in his head. "Because I don't want her to be gone. Because if she's gone, we lose."

I sighed, it wasn't the answer I was looking for.

I started to walk away. "She's there, I know it," Tidus called after me. I turned back around. "I know I have no proof, but she's there. It might just be the smallest spark, but I can just feel she's not all gone. I know you feel it too."

I stopped and thought.

"Look, Annie's a fighter, she not going to die without a battle. But as it stands, we can't do anything to help her; it's up to you. You're her only hope. You need to ignite that spark inside her, to save her." He spoke with such passion and I nodded, know he was right.

"Reno," Elena called out, pulling me away and back to our office.

"What's the damage?" Rufus asked as soon as Tseng walked in. He was sitting at Annie's desk since his office would be out of order for some time. I cringed at him everytime he looked away.

"Floor 6 is completely destroyed. ...No survivors..."he said hesitantly.

Rufus sighed into his hand "So we have no medical or lab workers?"

"We have a few lab worker, but most of them are inexperienced and at entry level positions. As far the infirmary, we just have the nurse left. We only have these people because they were on their lunch break."

"What else?" Rufus said.

"That looks like the worst...it looks like she went straight up from 6th to this floor." Tseng said, finishing the report.

Rufus let out another sigh, before picking up the phone.

"Now what?" Elena asked the question that was buzzing on everyone's lips.

"We do damage control," he said, starting to dial some numbers.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

But he didn't say anything but looked straight in my eyes.

I racked my brain, trying to think of what he was doing, then it hit.

"No!" I yelled, practically leaping of the desks and slamming my hand on the receiver, hanging up the phone.

"You are not calling Cloud! I refuse to let you get him involved." I yelled sternly in Rufus's face.

He remained calm "He and AVALANCHE know how to handle these situations best-"

"I don't care! I will not sit around and let him hunt Annie down!" I stood up straight, "If he finds her, he'll kill her on sight."

"We need to think about what's best for the company."

"Give me a chance," I reasoned, "Give me a chance to talk and reason with her. Let me try to reach her."

He gave me a cold stare before nodding. "Fine, one chance, but if the situation escalates, I'm calling Strife."

"Fine," I whispered, backing up and calming myself down.

"Okay..." Elena said softly, making sure it was ok to speak. "That still doesn't answer what our next move is."

We all were quiet as we thought.

"Pulski," Rude said after a few mintues.

"Huh?" I asked, that as the last thing I was expecting.

"His father was Hojo's assistance...he would know best. He's obviously is well aware of all their work," he explained.

That was enough of a reason for me, "Let's go kick some ass," turning to leave.

"No, stop," Rufus ordered.

I sighed "What now?"

"You go in looking for a fight in his own building, you won't make it out alive. We'll do this in a dignified way. I'll set up a meeting with him."

I cursed in my head but Rufus was right.

* * *

"Like my office? I wanted a modern Cosmos Canyon feel. I must say, the interior designer really out did herself."

I sneered at Pulski as he pompously bragged to us. We had just walked in there and he already was getting on my nerves.

"Where's your other Turk. Small girl, brown hair?" he asked, eying us up.

"How do you know about her?" I got defensive.

"Please...you don't think I know everything about you guys." I tensed up and he answered the question that darted through my head. "I must say, I was surprised to see you and her together at my party in Icicle Inn. If you guys wanted to come you should have asked, you didn't have to sneak in."

I looked away from his eye contact and looked at Rufus, expecting his to say something.

"Mr. Pulski-" Rufus started.

"Let me stop you there, I already know why you're here," he interrupted.

"You do?" I took a step forward.

He just smirked.

"What do you mean you know?" Rufus asked him before I could.

He let out a chuckle, "You know, I always doubted that this day would actually come...I've waited so long."

"Wait, you know about Jenova and Hojo's experiment's on Ms. Tusnick?" Rufus asked.

"Hojo's experiments? No. Don't get me wrong, he may have led the project but it was my father who was the brains behind. He was the one that concluded that a female body had the right balance to host Jenova. He was the one that found the test subject to make Hojo's dream a reality. If it wasn't for my father, Hojo would still be making failures."

I stood there silent until he stopped talking. "What do you mean when you say "found the test subject?"" I asked, already know the answer. "He sold them out, Annie's parents! He's the one that told Hojo they had a baby girl and had them killed!"

"They had it coming. And besides, it's not she would have been given a bad life. Once the project was completed, my father would take her in, he would have taught her to grow up in society. She would have been my little sister."

"You're sick," I said but he paid no attention.

"Nothing would stand in the way of my father and Hojo. No, not until that stupid Gast showed up. He ruined everything. But now, finally after nearly 30 year...Jenova is here. I can't wait to meet her." By now he wasn't even talking to us, but rather himself

"Then what? She'll kill you the second she sees you," I spat at him.

"Think of the knowledge she possess, what she can tell us..." he still was wrapped up in his own world.

"Yeah that's nice, but tell us how to get Annie back," I snapped at him.

He finally snapped out of his world "Why would I want to bring her back? I've waited years for this, and besides there's is no way to bring her back."

"Whatever, I'm going to get her back..." I said, going to leave this place.

"Do you even know where to look?" he called after me.

I scoffed, "And you do?'

"Lets say I have a hunch."

"Care to share?" I asked, turning back to him.

He smirked, "You guys put me in a good mode..I'll give you a hint. I bet she's tired after battling for control of that body. She's going to go rest up."

I looked spectacle at him as Rufus and the rest started to leave.

"Come on," Tseng said to me, grabbing me arm to drag me out.

"Oh and if I were you," Pulski called out after us, "I'd figure out where she's at because I know where she is and I'd say you have about 24 hours before I go after her."


	37. Chapter 37

He looked like a mad man; the way he stood infront of a map he tacked up on the wall with a list cities scribbled down beside it on the white board. It was nearly midnight, hours since Pulski and our meetings, and ever since, Reno has not stopped trying to figure out where Annie was, rambling to himself about why she would be in a place like Costa del Sol and crossing it out on both the map and list.

For the rest of us, we had long since checked-out. Not that we weren't concerned, but to run our body and mind ragged wouldn't help anyone. One by one we left, and now it as just me and Reno. Before Tseng left he asked me to get Reno to bed, because if someone didn't, he would be up all night. And with a quick kiss on the cheek, Tseng left us both, shutting off a set of light.

"Come on Reno, it's late," I started.

"So," by this time, I could tell he was running low on energy. Initially he was running back and forth, his voice booming through the room. Now, he sat on his desk, staring at the wall, tapping the maker in his hand.

"You need sleep," I leaned against the wall and looked at him.

"No, Elena," he shook his head. "I have to figure this out, if I don't Pulski wins and how knows what he'll do to her or Cloud will kill or something. I don't know, but all I do know is that I need to get to her first, all the other alternatives are not an option."

I starred at him for a second. I've known Reno for a while now and I was astonished by what I saw. Never once have I seen him care so much and have such passion for another person, for something other than his helicopter for once. And while he may have been right that he needs to save her, I knew I was right that he wasn't going to get far with no sleep.

"I know Reno, you want her back. But how are you going to save her if you're with sleep deprivation. If you cracked the code and find our where she is...then what, you fall asleep midway there. Or worse, Pulski there and you have no energy to battle him."

I could read on his face he was thinking about what I said in his head.

"Just get a few hours, that's all I'm asking," I pushed him some more, "Go down stairs and rest and come back in the morning with a fresh start."

"Okay," he murmered. Nodding his head.

"Okay," I repeated, waiting for him to get down form his desk and walking him to his room.

* * *

"Okay, lets think," I said, refreshed and energized the next morning, "We only have a couple hours to figure this out."

"A couple, we still have 12 hours," Elena corrected me.

"That doesn't include time for travel," I brushed her off. I turned to the map, "She's going somewhere to rest...what would Annie do?" I asked.

And after 4 hours, we still were staring at a map and had no answer.

"She could go to all these place, all of them work!" I exclaimed throwing my hands in the air "but at the same time none of them work."

"I mean, she went to rest. When I go some place for energy, I go home," Elena said. "Maybe she's literally went home and is at her place in Edge."

"No..." I thought it over in my head. "It's not simple," I mumbled. Then it all came together, "No! You're wrong but you're right!"

"Huh?" she pulled a confused face.

"We're thinking about this all wrong!" I was exclaiming and I didn't even notice. "We keep asking "Where would Annie go?" but this isn't Annie's mindset, it's Jenovas. So where would Jenova go? Where's Jenova's home?"

They all looked at me with unanswered faces.

So I explained deeper "Where is it the Jenova originally started here on Gaia? Northern Crater. It all makes sense. "Energy" doesn't mean sleep, but it also lifestream...she's growing herself stronger..." I started to slow down with that realization.

"Go," Rufus ordered, and we all started to rush, gather all we need.

"How long is the ride to Northern Crater?" Tseng asked.

"8 hours," I answered...we'd be just cutting it short for when Pulski said he's be there.

* * *

"Motherfucker..." I said louder than I wanted to, we parked the copter and after a town around a corner, a group of Pulski men came to focus. And me saying that louder than I wanted to called attention to us.

"You're late," said one of the men. As we got closer I recognized him to be that prick we had run-ins with. Elroy was his name?

"Eli," he said, out reaching his hand at Tseng.

Tseng didn't take, "We've met before."

"Yes, but it's been a while."

"What do you mean we're late," Tseng asked.

"I mean you're late. We were expecting you at 6, and it's 6:30. We almost had to go through with the plan with out you.

"Plan?" Elena asked.

"Well yeah," he had a cynical smirk on his face. "You see, Jenova's rather dangerous and we're not stupid. You really think we'd risk our own men? No, so here the plan, Jenovas at the bottom of the crater, we'll set up snipers around the perimeter. While we do that, you four will go in and lure her out."

"We're bait?" I asked for clarifications.

"If you want to put it that way then yes," he answered. "You job is to wear her out so we can capture."

"What's with the snipers?" I asked.

"Back up...just in case."

"And if we refuse to help you?"

"Then consider it the last time we meet," he snapped his fingers and the armed men pointed their guns at us.

"We'll help you," Tseng answered.

We were then pushed forwarded, marching to the bottom of the crater.

"We'll help them?" I whispered fiercely to Tseng.

"You wanted a chance to talk to Annie, this is it," he replied.

In a way he was right...but I couldn't help feel this wasn't going to go the way I wanted.


	38. Chapter 38

It wasn't a long march we had to make until we were at the bottom of the crater. And there in the center, sat Annie. Her head was hanging low and it looked as if she was meditating but instead of the rigid form she was slightly slumped forward. It was almost magical, the way whisp of the lifesteam circle around her. Behind where she sat was a large crack in the ground, glowing bright blue-green, an obvious drop to the center of the lifestream itself.

Eli pulled us back, out of range from her.

"Go, I don't care how you do it but get her away from the lifestream and tire Jenova out. When you do, we'll capture her. Should anything go wrong, I'll cue the snipers to take her out...or you out," he add skeptically.

"You won't have to," I said smugly.

He nodded and with out another word, he turned and left us to our task.

I didn't know what to expect...let alone what the first move would be. I knew I need to get to her but now that I found her...I was lost.

Tseng nudged me, it was apparent that this was my responsibility and although I had no clue what to do, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I started to approach her slowly, the gravel and rocks under me crunching with each step. About every five feet I would turn around to see were the rest of my group was and each time was the same result. They were just on the edge of the area and they would nod at me to continue on.

By the time I was only couple feet away from her, I stopped. She made no move, I had no idea if she was aware we were here of not.

"Annie."

I reached my arm out, slowly, to grab her shoulder after she remained motionless.

"Annie," I said again.

My hand nearly connected with her when she finally moved, whipping her head up. It was so fast, it caught me off guard and I stumbled backwards on the ground.

She stood up and over her, cocking her head to the side.

"What you seek is no longer in this body. The one you call Annie is dead," she said, her eyes boring into me.

"I don't believe that," I said, getting up and dusting myself off.

She chuckled, "Then you're wasting your time, boy."

"What are you doing here?" she asked turning to Tseng and the rest.

"We came to talk to Annie," I said.

She turned back to me, and let our a annoyed sighed "I don't think you understand, she's gone, dead. You can't get her back."

"You wrong," was all I said.

She looked at me for a second before saying, "See that," she pointed to the lifesteam swirling around us, "That is were she is, she's nothing more than a memory."

I opened my mouth but stopped when we all heard the tumble of stones roll down the crater sides. Looking up to see we saw that one of Pulski's men had slipped, exposing his position.

He went to run but before he could Annie reached her arm out to him, palm out. Closing her hand into a fist she pulled it back quickly, and as if he has a string around him, he flew back and to her feet.

She pulled him and took off his mask. She held onto his face, staring at him closely.

"You shouldn't spy on people," she said, pushing him backwards.

He started to run.

"Stop," she said and he froze in his place.

Annie stood in front of him and from his side, she grab his knife and snapped her fingers, making him mobile again. He had absolute terror on his face and his breath came out uneven

She took a step towards him and he took one back, until he was up against the gorge in the floor. She grabbed his hand and tore of his gloves. With his hand still in hers, she sliced the palm quickly.

He hunched forward, tear out of her grasp and clutching his hand close to him. While he did so, Annie wrapped her right hand around the blade and cut her own palm.

And with a quick shove, she sent him hurdling down the chasm.

"What are you doing?" I asked, I could have cared less about Pulski's men, but it was obvious she wasn't just doing this for no reason.

Annie stood over the hole, staring down it for a second before bending down at the waist, extending her cut and bloody hand deep inside it.

"Annie?" I asked.

I felt and hand on me and I slightly jumped. I turned to see Tseng pulling me back. I guess I wasn't the only one uneasy over this.

She jerked forward, as if something had grabbed onto her and her eyes grew wide and a smile spread on her face. Slowly she started to stand up, pulling what ever she had with her.

It made me sick to the stomach and panic swept through my body as first an arm surfaced to help pull itself up. Clad in leather, it pushed up and up from the crack in the floor, head covered with long, silver hair.

There was no mistake, what Annie...no...what Jenova had brought back, what she just resurrected was Sephiroth himself.

"My son," she said, when he was fully on ground, kneeling before her,

I felt Tseng pull me even hard and tell me we had to get out of here.

'What did you do?" I ask her, trying to pull Tseng off me.

She turned her head to me, "You expect me to fulfill my plan by myself?"

"What plan?"

She laughed, stepping towards me, Sephiroth getting behind her.

"You'll see," was all she said before looking around the perimeter of the crater. She knew Eli and his men were there watching all this unfold.

Looking back at me she said "Why are your friends hiding?"

I scoffed, "They aren't my friends."

"Oh, well then," she outstretched her arms and jerked them back in close to her, as if she was hugging herself.

All of Pulski's men came hurdling down hard, crashing around us.

"You don't mind if we kill them then?" she asked me.

I stood there with a questioning look on my face, not knowing how to answer. Meanwhile I could feel some one wrap their hand around my arm, giving it a tug back.

She didn't wait, and with a snap of her fingers Sephiroth walk from behind her.

"Reno, come one" I heard Rude say close to my ear, but I stayed glued to the ground. Rude yanked my arm hard enough and started dragging me to the exit as I watched the bloodshed of the Pulski's men. Sephiroth made it look so easy as man after man fell to him knees dead.

I watched as Eli and two other men got away, pushing though our little group and out of the harms way.

No one was left, beside me, Sephiroth and Annie...Rude, Elena and Tseng already ahead of me, calling for me to get out of there. I just stood there at the exit as Sephiroth turned and locked his eyes with mine. He started to pull out his blade and advance towards me.

I sucked in my breathe "Shit..." I let out in a whisper but I couldn't move. Leaving here would mean leaving Annie...who know how long it would be until I got a chance like this...how long it would take to find her again.

"Stop," she said, lifting her arm in front of Sephiroth looking dead at me.

She smirk and I gave her a confused look.

"Come on! What are you, fucking retarded?" I felt Rude once again drag me violently out of the area, not letting go until we were at the copter.


	39. Chapter 39

Rufus sat there with his head in his hands. We had just broken the news to him and we were waiting for his response. We stood in front of his desk; by know they had patched up the wall with a flimsy tarp that rustled anytime the wind would blow.

Lifting his head with a sigh, he picked up the phone receiver.

"But si-" I started.

"Reno," he said firmly, "You knew the deal. Gave you the chance to talk to her and maybe if we were just dealing with her then yes, I wouldn't be calling Cloud. But you and I know this is something we can't handle it alone."

"But-"

"No buts, bring it up with him. Maybe he'll let you have another chance."

I closed my mouth and nodded. I took a leap of faith hoping Cloud would give me that chance. All I needed was to talk to her, just sit her down and remind her who she is. All I prayed he would go all assassin and just kill anything related to Jenova.

"I'll call him in the morning," Rufus said, "Until then, rest up."

* * *

"So let me get this straight. One of your employees was carrying Jenova, which has taken over her body completely and who has just resurrected Sephiroth?" Tifa asked pointedly after we explained everything, her and Cloud stand at the front of the group of AVALANCHE, all packed into Rufus's office.

"Put simply yes," I said.

"Wow, you guys don't stop messing up do you?" She said.

"Look, we're asking for your help not a lecture." Rufus said.

"Fine," Cloud said, turning to leave and saying nothing more.

"Woah, woah, wait," I said, running in front of him, blocking the door from him. "What do you mean by fine?"

He looked at me with an annoyed expression. "We'll get rid of Sepiroth and Jenova for your." He said plainly.

"Just to be clear, we want them gone, but we want Annie back, soooo..." I trailed off, hoping they would get my hint.

"What do you mean," Tifa asked.

"I mean, that's still Annie's body and she's still in there-"I started.

"That's debatable," Rufus interrupted.

I sighed, "Look whatever, I just...she might still be there. And..I need to get her back," I said quietly, staring at my feet.

I could feel Cloud and everyone staring at me. "I'll think about it," was all he said as he pushed past me.

"Dammit," I muttered as the rest of his group followed him.

"Go with them," Rufus said rubbing his forehead.

* * *

"You really care about her?" I heard from behind me. I was leaning against the rail, on the outerdeck of the Highwind, wind blowing my hair and fluttering my open jacket.

"What?" I turned to see Tifa walking up behind me.

"Annie, she means a lot to you, huh?"

"Tch, whatever," I brushed her off.

She sighed. "Oh come on, Reno. Don't be like that," she glared me down.

"What do you want me to say, yo" I shrugged. "She's my coworker and friend. I care for just as much as I do for Rude or Tseng or even Elena."

"I don't think so," she said, leaning on the rail too.

"Oh, enlighten me professor bartender," I said sarcastically.

"Well, I mean it's obvious you see her more than just a friend or coworker."

I scoffed, I mean yeah we got close to each other and I admit I had a crush, but so what? What was Tifa trying to get at?

"I mean, come on Reno, after you guys hired her, you stopped taking home girls from Seventh Heaven. Heck, you stopped hitting on any girls," She continued.

"So?"

"Plus, I've never seen you like this. Usually you're an arrogant prick that has a smirk on his face while he does stupid things. Now, you have that look Cloud makes."

I stared out in front of me. "What look?"

"The one he always makes. It's like there's a thousand things running through his head, all of them worrying him."

"Why are you telling me this," I finally asked after a few seconds of silence.

"I just thought, maybe you'd like to talk," she said, turning fully to me.

Of course that's what she wanted. It must be ingrained in bartender's DNA to as people whats on their minds.

"Well thanks, but no thanks," I said unenthusiastically.

She sighed again, "Okay, but also, if this ease your mind, Cloud will probably let you "save her"...how ever you plan on doing it anyway."

I didn't say anything, just continued to stare out in front of me, the land rush benieth us.

She got the hint and left, but before she shut the door she said one other thing to me. "Annie, she's really lucky to have someone to love her like that to fight for her." And with that the door shut behind her.

Love? No, that's not me. I couldn't, could I?

* * *

I went back down below, back to the steering room.

"Where are we going anyway," I asked Cloud.

"Northern Crater," he said without even looking at me.

"Why?" I asked. "We were just there and they're probably long gone anyway."

"Maybe," he said, still staring in front on himself "but we might find clue. Either way, it's the only location we have reason to go to."

"Whatever," I sighed, walking to a more friendly zone. It was safe to say we weren't welcome aboard.

I stood over with Rude and Elena, listening to Elena babble about some new nail polish she used. I could by Rude's face, he was absolutely enthralled.

Out of nowhere, the ship make a sharp jerk, causing most to tumble to the ground. It was useless to scramble to our feet, within second of, the ship jerked again.

"Yo, gramps," I yelled to Cid "Can you drive this thing or do you need help?"

"Shut yer mouth, goddamn Shinra scum," I heard him yell back an then continue to mutter at me.

"What wrong?" Yuffie called out, "This is making me sicker!"

I scoffed, grabbing onto the wall for balance.

"Somethin' wrong with the goddamn engine. I need to take her down" he said, pounding on buttons and truning the wheel feircly.  


* * *

  
It was an hour later since we made the emergency landing in a field close to Nibelheim. I laid in the grass, waiting for further instructions.

"Looks like we're stuck here for the night," Cloud said to all of us. "We'll stay at the Inn in Nibelheim. Be ready by morning, the ship should be fixed by then."


	40. Chapter 40

"I'll go book rooms for us for the night," Cloud said as we walked into Nebilheim. "Don't wander too far off and be ready to leave in the morning."

"Reno, where are you going?" Elena asked me as I started to walk away from the group.

I waved her off. "Just…give me some time alone," I said to her, walking around the corner of a building, out of sight from everyone.

I leaned against the building, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

I sat there and thought. I wish I could say it was deep or that I had an epiphany, but it was nothing close. It was the same thoughts I've had since this whole thing happened.

I don't know how long I sat there and thought, but judging by the cigarette butts piling around me and the fact that only 2 were left in the pack, it was a long time.

The sun was on it's way down and the long shadows of two figures that turned the corner pulled me away from my thoughts and I cursed inside my head that I was no longer alone.

"What now?" I asked when I looked up to see Tifa and Yuffie.

"We just came to cheer you up!" Yuffie said as they each sat beside me.

"Ok one, I don't need cheering up" I said, pulling out another cigarette. "Two, pretty sure last time I saw you, I told you to never come around me ever again."

"Oh come on, that was like 6 months ago-"

"You stole my material and made me crash my bike," I spat at her.

"Hey, I gave it back! And beside, Annie thought it was funny," she said, crossing her arms.

"Yuffie," Tifa shushed her and took a second before continuing. "Anyway, Tseng sent me to look you, I guess he thought you would be hard to find."

"And I joined!" Yuffie said.

"What does he want?"I asked Tifa. "And why would be send you?"

"I think he was just making sure you were alright," she replied, "and I think he sent me because I know my way around town."

"Yeah," I said, getting up and walking away "Well, I'm fine."

"Where are you going" Tifa yelled after me.

"To bed."

"But...it's only 8."

"So," I said, turning the corner and heading into the inn, in the distance I could see gray clouds rolling through the sky.

"What are you doing," Elena asked me as I entered the lobby.

I walked past her and answered her question "To the room."

"Are you going to bed?"

I turned towards her, already up the first few steps. "Yeah."

"It's kinda early isn't it," she said.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Whatever," she said before jumping to the next topic. "We're going to the tavern next door, you should come."

A low rumble a thunder could be barely heard. "That's okay, besides, I think it's going to storm." I turned and start to make my way back to the room.

"It's not like we'll be outside," she called after me.

"That's nice," I said back, not really paying attention to her as I slipped in the rented room and crawled into bed. I don't even bother taking off my uniform, just my belt, coat and shoes. I wanted to sleep and wake up, wake up back at the Gold Coral, with Annie in my arms. Back to when none of this happened.

* * *

Maybe it was the rain pounding the windows that woke me up, or maybe it was the sharp crack of lightning that rocked the night. Whatever it was, it forced me awake. It wasn't one of those one that's overly dramatic, where you sit straight up, gasping and clutching the bed sheets. No, it was more subtle, one where you eyes just jump open and the next thing you know you're no longer asleep.

I look at the clock beside my bed. I tried to focus, but numbers couldn't come together for me, my eyes were still groggy like the rest of me. I looked at the beds beside me, squinting to see who was in them but to my surprised they laid unoccupied. Either it was still really early and everyone was at the tavern or they must have just left me alone for the night.

Another bolt of lightning streaked through the sky, lighting the whole room for a second and make me realize I wasn't alone.

I slowly turned my head, looking in the far corner of the room, to a chair that sat empty when I went to sleep and now it was apparent someone was sitting there watching me.

By now my eyes were adjusted to the darkness, but the figure was still in a dark spot in the room.

The lightning flashed again and I got to see who it was I was up against. When I saw it, my heart stopped, my mouth dried and I heard myself whisper "Annie."

I couldn't believe it as I scrambled to turn the light on, to see if I was see things straight. And there, in the warm glow of the light was her. Like she was before all this, her pale skin, brown hair and hazel eyes, sitting in front of me, a smile on her lips, the one she would give me so many times.

"Annie," I ran up to her, hold her head in my hands, looking at her all over to make sure it was her. I dropped to my knees, pulling my hands down to rest on her legs. "It's you, it's really you," I whispered.

She brushed a piece of hair back from my forehead before rubbing her hand on my chin "You need to shave," was all she said with a laugh. Why was I not surprised this would be the first thing she would say to me.

"How? How are you here?" I said, grabbing her hand, holding in tight in mine, I didn't want to let go of her.

"Oh Reno," she chuckled. "I'm not here."

"What?" I didn't understand.

"Come on, now. Let's think realistically. This is just a dream."

It took me a second to register. "What?"

"I'm sorry," she said, give me a gentle smile.

"No," I pleaded "I don't want this to be a dream."

She shook her head; bring her hand up to her own face. "I'm sorry Reno, but it is."

"Well fine, I just won't wake up," I told her stubbornly.

She gave a look that a parents gives their child, "You have to."

I stared her in the eye before I sighed, "Fine, then give me a hint."

"A hint?" she asked, the tip of her thumb was in her mouth, she was biting her nails again.

"Yeah, something, anything to help me save you," I reasoned with her, pulling her hand down from her mouth. God did that bad habit of hers annoy me. "You would know better than I would."

"I can't help you," she said back and resuming to bite. "I'm just a dream; all I know is what you know. I'm just your imagination."

"Come on, there has to be something," I said to her while I stood up, I started pacing back a forth, thinking.

We shared a moment of silence.

"The answer may just be in front of you," she said.

"Huh," I looked at her. She was stilling biting.

"Annie, come on, quit that," I said marching back to her.

As I got closer, I noticed something was off. Her fingers were bloody as well at the corners of her mouth. I watched her as she took the nail in mouth, biting down hard and ripping the whole thing off.

I rush down to her, pulling her hands away from "Annie stop!"

"Why are you doing this to yourself," I yelled at her, holding her hands close to me.

She said nothing, her eyes shut and her head hung.

"Annie!" I yelled, giving her a shake. "Annie!" I yelled harder as thunder boomed and lighting crashed. But this time, when the lightning faded, I wasn't in the brightly lit room any more. I was back in bed, the storm still raging on, the room just as dark as ever, the dream over. This time, it was one of those times you wake up, sitting straight up, heart pounding and fist clutching the sheet.

"Reno, go back to bed," I heard Tseng mumble from the bed next me.

I was still breathing heavy as my eyes traveled to the corner where Annie sat in my dream. Empty as when I went to bed. The clock said 2 am as I grabbed my coat, throwing it on and slipped on my shoes.

I went outside, standing just under the awning to stay out of the rain as I pulled out my last cigarette. I just about lit it when I saw I figure under the water tower, sitting there to stay out of the rain.

I breathed in deep, was this another dream. I pocketed the cigarette and walked forward, ducking low to try to see better, slowly into the rain.

I was only a few steps away before the lighting flashed. It was a combined feeling of relief and disappointment when I say the spiky, haired blond.

"Oh, it's you, " I said, leaning against the one poll, enough to stay sheltered. "Why are you out here?" I asked.

"Couldn't sleep," was all he said.

"Yeah," I replied, pulling out my cigarette again and this time lighting it. "Same here," I said as smoke followed the words.

It was silent again.

"This is your hometown, right?" I asked, trying to make conversation.

He was silent for a few seconds before saying, "It was, until your people came in and took over."

I winced, I kinda forgot that detail.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that," was all I could think of saying.

Silence again. I flicked the butt of the cigarette out.

"Well, that was fun," I mumbled, turning to head back into the inn.

"Reno," Cloud said.

I looked back at him, waiting to for him to continue.

"You can have your chance with Annie," he said finally, standing up.

"Really?" I said in disbelief, I was sure he wouldn't let me.

"On one condition," he continued.

"Anything, just say the word," I felt hope brewing inside me, a renewed sense of joy. I would name my first born after this man if he asked.

"You need to give me proof," he explained, walking past me and back to the inn.

That hope and joy was followed up by deflation. "Proof?" I asked, taking a few steps forward, trying to get him before he was inside.

"Evidence that there is a little bit of her in there, that you aren't just chasing a ghost." Was all he said to me as he shut the door to the building.

I stood there for a few second, not even realizing was get soaked from the rain. "What does that even mean," I said to myself.

A the crash of lightning broke my thoughts and I was aware of the heavy, wet clothes that clung to my body. I shuffled inside, throwing my wet clothes over the radiator in the room and crawling into bed.


	41. Chapter 41

Short chapter, but I'm trying to get time to write more. Thank you everyone for the support :).

* * *

"Reno, come on, get up," I heard Elena say to me. I pulled the covers closer to me, holding on to sleep.

She made her way towards me, grabbing my shoulder and giving it a shake, "Get up…are you even wearing clothes?"

I gave her a groan and rolled away from her.

"Gross," she mumbled, walking away. "Anyway, get up. We're leaving in a half hour," she said as she walked out of the room, leaving me alone.

After a few minutes, I slugged my way out of bed. The clock showed 11:30, which left me surprised they left me sleep that long. Picking up my clothes, I grumbled as I felt that they were still damp spots from the rain.

"Fucking great," I said to myself, slipping on my pants and shirt. Nothing like clothing that was still wet at the seams and pockets.

"Bad dream last night?" Tseng asked me when I walked into the lobby where a few of party members were gathered.

"I don't know," I said, pouring myself some coffee from the pot they had, complementary for us.

"What to talk about?" he asked, leaning in so no one could hear us.

Tseng never failed to surprise me. He presents himself with a hard outer shell and acts so corporate about everything. What I mean is that business comes first and that emotions are put to the side, not for the work force. But then he does things like this and it makes me realize he does care for all of us, even though he might not always show it. I always think about him and Elena together. Not in the gross way, but what he's like when he's away from work, when he isn't in a suit.

"No, I'm good," I said to him. "But, thanks," I added after a second.

I slid outside, away from everyone, looking for Rude. I spotted him by the entrance on the town, doing exactly what I was about to ask for help with.

"Yo, can I bum a smoke from you," I asked, walking up to him.

He reached in his pocket and handed me his pack and lighter. I slipped one out and started to light it.

"Take 3 so you're not bothering me the rest of the trip for some," he said to me.

Rude, my partner is crime and for work, he knew me all too well.

We stood there in silence as we both smoked. This wasn't anything new when it came to Rude, but usually I was rambling on about something, but I couldn't think of anything I wanted to say out loud.

"What will you do if you get her back?" he asked me.

I shook my head. "I have no idea."

"You do know she still is considered a Shinra enemy. Rufus hasn't said anything but he'll probably want her arrested again if she does come back."

I never thought of that, but I guess he was right.

I couldn't find the words to reply so he filled the silence. "Just so you know, when you get her back, I wouldn't tell anyone if you hide her in your apartment."

I laughed, those words were probably the most uplifting thing I've heard in a while.

"Wait," I said, "'When I get her back.' You actually think I can get her back?"

He shrugged, "You're my partner, I learned a while ago you're going to do what you want. By any means necessary. I'd be disappointed if you didn't do that this time."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well," he said, I could tell he was getting uncomfortable. Anytime you him something that might have a tie in with his feelings, he got like this. "For one…the situation has affected your work performance."

I stopped him before he could continue. "Aw that Rude talk for saying you hate seeing me like this," I teased him.

"Also," he ignored my comment, "Annie is a good friend and she deserves to be saved. The work is empty with out her."

"And that's your way of saying you miss her," I said. "Same here."

I turned to look at the inn to see Tseng coming out of it, cell phone pressed to his ear.

"Yes, okay sir. Yes I understand, we'll be there as fast as we can," I heard him say to who I would assume was Rufus.

He hung up as Rude and I walked over to him.

"What was that about?" I asked.

"Get on the airship and be ready to leave," he ordered us.

"Okay, why?" I pushed the topic.

"Jenova broke into the old Midgar building. She's long gone from there but the videos caught it all. Rufus wants us there now to take a look at them," he explained.

"Let's go!" I said, a burst of energy sprang through at the new lead. "Come on, what are you waiting for," I yelled as I jogged to the airship.


	42. Chapter 42

We stood, packed in the front of the conference room, each of us trying to see the tv screen that was mounted on the wall.

"This took place about 6 in the morning." Rufus explained as some workers searched the tapes. On the screen, black and white film sped past as they fast forward to the moment we were looking for.

"We sent troops in as soon as the alarm went off," Rufus continued, "But by the time they got there, Jenova and her gang were long gone."

"Gang?" Tifa asked.

"You'll see..." Rufus said as the video stopped fast forwarding and started to play.

With the lights in the room turned off and the glow of the tv shining on our faces, we watched the video. First there was nothing, just a picture of an empty room with decaying walls and rumble on the floor. Then came a siren through the video, the alarm being set of as Annie came walking, calmly into the room.

She pointed to a direction that couldn't be seen on the screen. "Over there," her voice was barely heard over the alarm.

I heard someone gasp at what happened next appeared on the screen. It wasn't Annie nor Sephiroth. No, it was some other silver hair freak.

"Who is that?" I heard Yuffie ask.

"It looks like... Kadaj," Tifa said unsure. She was right, it looked exactly like him but it was hard to tell.

"Shh," Rufus silenced them, it was apparent there was more to the video.

"What makes you think we'll find the cells here?" Sephiroth ask as he came on screen.

She turned and looked at him "Because last time I was here there was some."

"Last time?' he question.

"The girl came here to get some suppressants. Even though this buildings been abandoned, they still use it to hide their best secrets...not many people will go looking in a Mako infested ruin."

"Then what" he asked.

She turned away from him, "Then, depending on how much is in there, we can being our plan." She had a small smile on her face that was covered by her hand.

"We'll need more remnants," Sephiroth said. "If Shinra teams up with Strife, it will be easier to take care of them."

Jenova said nothing.

"It's not here," the figure from before, said from afar.

"What!" Jenova snapped, jerking her hand down and walking over to him.

Rufus paused the video. "And that's it. The rest is just guttural noises. When we arrived at the scene, there was on one there."

The room broke into a frenzy, but I was stuck staring at the screen. There's been something in it that seemed strange but I couldn't figure out what.

"Can you rewind the tape?" I yelled to the dude behind the computer controlling it. He nod vigorously and it sped backward.

"Ok stop," I said to him. I watched, shaking my head over that it wasn't what I was looking for. "Fast forward it some," I said over the crowd still discussing it.

"No, stop," I moaned, "You went to far."

I walked over and shoed him away, "Just move, I'll do it."

I got behind and search, looking for the exact moment. When I found what I was looking for I played it. Over and over again, until pausing it. There she was, her back turned to Sephiroth . Her hand near her mouth.

I stare closer.

"That's it!" I yelled!

The room stopped and looked at me.

"What?" Elena asked, a bit annoyed.

"This, watch," I said, pressing play.

I watched Annie as she placed the tip of her finger in her mouth and bit down.

"See," I paused it again.

"See what?" Elena voiced.

"That!" I yelled, pointing at the screen. "See look, she's biting her nails!"

It was quiet. "So?" Tifa said slowly.

"Oh come on guys!" I said, crushed. "Come on, Annie always bit her nails. I hated that habit of hers."

The room was quiet once again.

"What are you getting at?" Said Rufus.

"You said you wanted proof," I pointed to Cloud. "Proof that she was still in there. This is it. ...old habit die hard right?"

I heard Elena sigh, "Reno..." she said caringly as if she was telling a child that it wouldn't work.

But ignored her and stared at Cloud, hoping this long shot would work.

"It shows some sort of deep conscious of her, some...spark..."I mumbled, using the phrase Tidus used.

Still even more silence as Could and I stared at each other.

"Fine...you can have your chance," Cloud said coldly.

"Wait...really?" I asked in disbelief.

"But now we need to figure out our next step," he continued. "Like I said, Jenova's looking for more cells. Why I don't know. But we need to get to the cells before she does. Can anyone think of anywhere that might have some? What happened to the cells that were there like she said."

"I moved them after Annie broke in for the suppressants. After seeing that they easily broke in I figured it was time to move them. Don't worry, I have them safely hidden." Rufus firmly said, not wanting to revile where they were to Cloud.

"Ok, fine, then where else would she look?" Cloud restated the question.

We were all quiet, thinking of who might.

"Pulski," Tseng said. "He might, he's just as adamant to find Annie as we are. Who knows."

Cloud nodded "We'll go to his company, I don't want to start trouble so Tseng and I will go to have a chat."

"No," I protested, "I'm going with you."

Tseng tried to open his mouth to refuse but I stopped him "I'm not taking no for an answer and besides I won't do anything, I just refuse to sit and wait."


	43. Chapter 43

So sorry it's been forever. I ended up getting a full time job and that paired with being a full time student gave me 0 time. But now I'm back!

* * *

"Welcome to Aduro Inc. How can I help you?" said the girl behind the help desk, filing her nails and looking uninterested on the first floor of Aduro.

"Yes, we'd like to speak to Pulski." Rufus said, taking control of the situation with Could and myself behind him.

"Take the elevator on the right, 35th floor," she told us without look once at us.

The three of us piled into the elevator.

"She was friendly, maybe you should hire her to replace Karen," I dryly said.

Rufus said nothing as we rose into the building, passing floor after floor until we reached out destination.

As the doors slid open we saw Pulski, leaning against the desk of his secretary, talking to her. He turned to look when he heard the elevator open and said "Boys! Pleasure seeing you here. What occasion brings you to my humble company?"

I scoffed and Rufus cast me a side glare before continuing, "Mind if we talk in your office?"

"Now, now Rufus," he said standing straight up and smoothing out the creases in his suit jacket. "I'm a busy man, if you want to talk, make it quick right here. Other wise you'll have to set up an appointment."

I could feel Rufus tense up, I couldn't think of any time Rufus has been talked down to like that.

"Fine, I'll make it quick." He exhaled slowly. "Do you have any Jenova cells?" he asked through his teeth.

Pulski let out a bellow that shook the air. "Ruffy, you're killing me," he said still laughing. He stopped, and with a condescending smile said "You really think we would tell you if we did? You really think you can waltz right in here and get whatever your heart desires? Guess again, you aren't top dog now, you don't have that power any more."

Rufus glared at him before turning around to walk away, Could following after him.

"Wait!" I yelled. "That's it, you're just letting him get his way?"

"Let it go Reno."

"No, you listen to me," I said turning to Pulski. "Annie is looking to these cells and if you have them she'll be knocking on your door next."

Pulski stared at me before nodding his head. "Really now? Well that makes searching for her a lot easier if she's just coming to me."

I growled in frustration, "You don't understand, she's trying to grow stronger."

"And that's what I want."

"That's not the point, didn't you see what she did to your men? She killed at least a hundred of them in a matter or seconds. Her armies growing, she'll take you and this company down in seconds."

Pulski stared at me before letting out a chuckle. "Get out of my building," was all he said before walking back to his office.

I felt Cloud grab my arm and I followed his lead, getting back into the elevator.

"What the fuck!" I yelled once the doors shut. "He has those cells, you know that." I said running my hands through my hair.

Rufus just stared ahead. "There's nothing we can do about it."

I did a double take and gawked at him. "So you're just giving up? That's not the Rufus I-"

I was cut off as the elevator came to an abrupt halt.

The lights flickered off and an alarm started to blame. An automated voice over the speaker started to repeat itself. "Warning: Intruder Alert. Threat level 10. Adure is in lockdown. Please remain in your station."

"Oh gee, I wonder who that could be." I said in false surprise.

"We could do without the sarcasm, Reno," Rufus said as we both watch as Cloud try to pry open the doors.

"Can defeat Sephiroth twice but can't open an elevator door," I mumble under my breath after watching Cloud try for another ten minutes.

I sighed before looking around the small cube for another solution. I looked up and saw the hatch that would lead to the outside top of the elevator and into the shaft. Climbing and balancing on the railing, I reached up and jerked the hatch open. Cloud and Rufus looked up and followed suit as I exited the elevator.

Level with us on the top the elevator were the doors to the second floor. "Great, more doors to fail at prying open."

"If they're anything like the elevators we have, this set will be easier to be open," Rufus said.

I was surprised to see with only a little effort he was right. What I wasn't surprised was to see the blood bath in front of us. It looked like not a single person was spared.

"Careful," Cloud said in a low voice, "They still might be here."

I withdrew my taser while Cloud already had out his Buster Sword as we cautiously made our way down to the first floor.

We were half down the steps when we heard sobbing, a sign of life. Cloud went ahead, around the front desk. There, under it was the girl from earlier.

"Are you ok?' he asked in his cold voice.

She didn't answer, just kept crying.

"What happened?"

Still no answer.

Cloud grab her arm and shook her, "What happened?" he asked more forcefully.

Her sobbed slowed down and she swallowed hard before say "It was him."

"Who?" I asked.

"Sephiroth," she said in a whisper.

"Just him?" Cloud asked.

She shook her head no, "There were two others that looked like him."

"I thought I said get out of my building." I heard from behind us.

Pulski stood there, looking slightly disheveled with Eli and a few security guards behind him.

"Well," I started. "I'm glad to see you took our warning serious."

"I said get the fuck out before I have you killed."

"I take it they got the cells," Rufus said, it was strange but I could swear triumph was sparkling in his eyes.

Pulski snapped his head at him,"And what makes you say that."

"Sephiroth would have gone all the way to the top to look for them, killing everyone in his path," Rufus whimsically explained. "The only way he would have stopped was if he found what he was looking for."

With that Rufus turned heel and marched out of the room, followed by Cloud and me.

"Wipe that smile off your face," I said as we walked back to headquarters.

"Excuse me?" Rufus said.

I signed, stopping in the street and turning to him, "While you're sitting there, happy Pulski fucked up, Jenova got one step closer to whatever the fuck she wants which leaves me one step further away from Annie."

Rufus looked my up and down for a second before pushing past me an continuing to walk to the company.

"Now what?" was the question that everyone was asking us after we reported back to them.

They all stared at me like I knew the answer.

But honestly, I didn't know.


	44. Chapter 44

Short chapter, but I wanted to get one out for the weekend. So proofreading isn't my strongest suit, if anyone is willing to offer up an extra pair of eyes to read over new chapters before I put them out to find mistakes, I'd love you.

* * *

"I just don't know what to do anymore. I don't even know where to go from here." I said, taking a final drag from my cigarette.

Sitting at the top of the roof of the Shinra building, with my feet dangling over the edge, I flicked the butt of it, watching it spiral down to the ground.

I heard a sign next to me,"I wish I could help you," Tidus said next to me, smoking as well and chugging a beer I snuck up along with us. "I know Annie, I know what she would do. But that's not her anymore."

"Yeah, you're right," I mumbled falling back on cold cement and staring at the night sky.

It was quiet between us for a while. "So those nights when Annie turned up late after work, is this what you guys were doing? Drinking on the roof of the Shinra building?" He asked me as he finished his beer and threw out into the night sky.

I chuckled and closed my eye, remember nights like that with her; the ones when she would drink a bit too much and give me that playful smile as she laughed to herself, leaning on me as I helped her home. Night's like this, with the sky so clear that we counted the stars right before she held my hair back as I threw-up over the side of the building from drinking too much. Yeah, I sure knew how to romance her. She always gave me the silent treatment the next day, but I knew the ways to break her and get her to stop her playful madness.

I heard the pop of another bottle open, "I'll take that as a yes," Tidus said before starting into his forth beer.

"So, what is your plan then?" he asked.

I shrugged, sitting back up and pulling out another cigarette. "After today, I can't say for sure. She's looking for those cells and we don't know where they'll strike next. We still don't even know why she looking."

"Maybe-" Tidus started.

"RENO! The fuck do you think you're doing!" I heard the shrieking yell from behind me. I nearly fell off the side of the building from the ear piercing scream.

I turned to see Elena marching furiously to us. "What would possess you to do this! He is an enemy against Shinra and you have him out of his cell!" She yelled pointing at Tidus.

I waved her off, taking swig from my beer. "Calm down I have it under control."

"Control!" She yelled, smacking the beer from my hand.

"I have guards right outside this door, plus he promised he'd be good." I nodded to Tidus.

Tidus made an X motion over his heart with his hand, "Cross my heart."

"Rufus. Will. Kill. You." Elena gritted through his teeth.

I shrugged as she yelled for the guards to take Tidus back to his cell. He graciously got up with out a word before waving me off and walking to meet the guards.

I got up to leave as well but Elena stopped me from walking past her. "Oh no, I'm far from done with you."

I sighed, I should have known than I wouldn't get away without a lecture.

"What made you think that was a good idea?" She asked firmly.

I shoved my hands in my pocket, "I figured maybe he had some insight."

She sighed and ran her hand through her hair, "Our prisoners are not your drinking buddies. You have question, you ask them in the interrogation room. Now go." She said, pointing behind her.

I started down to my room, ever since Annie changed, I rarely stay at my apartment. Should anything come up, I want to be there when it happens.

I checked the time, it was already 3 in the morning. Flopping down on my bed, it didn't take me long to pass out.

* * *

"You're late," Rufus said as I stepped into the office.

I ignored his comment.

"How can one be late when you've been living in the same building?"

Again I ignored his comment and headed straight to the coffee pot. They called me three time before I finally answered. 7 in the morning and Rufus arranged a surprise meeting for us all.

"Now that we're all here, Cloud and I were having a little discussion." Rufus began "We both agree that Jenova has moved on, she'll be moving to her next target."

"Consider that her army has grown, they'll be slower moving." Cloud added. "They'll probably be moving from town to town with any history of the cells being in that location. We made an agreement, since Jenova is mobile, we will be too. You four turks will come with us on the airship and go visit these locations, try to beat them before they get there."

"It feels like a game of cat and mouse," I said.

Everyone looked at me, "Well Reno, if you have a better plan then let's hear it."

I shook my head and took a pause before I spoke again. "It's not that it's a bad plan, it just seems like we'll be chasing a ghost. How do we know where she'll go next, it's just a wild guess."

"We have four locations that we feel that will be targeted. The first is Junon for reasons that don't need to be explained. Forgotten Capital is another, if what Cloud tells me is correct, Sephiroth dropped a part of her before, there could be some there still. The Mako Reactor at Mt. Nibel is an obvious location along with the mansion there, so you'll be returning there too. Lastly we want you to look in Costa del Sol."

"Why there?" Elena asked.

"Hojo," Rufus said. "He had a house up there, I remember going once. He has his own lab in it too."

"Tifa, Barret, and Elena will go to Junon. Tseng, Cait Sith, and Cid; you'll go back to Nibelheim. Yuffie, Elena, and Red will be taking care of the Forgotten Capital. Reno and Vincent, you're with me in Costa del Sol." Could explained the details. "We leave in the next hour and start dropping off at each destination."

Everyone in the rooms started getting up to prepare for the trip "And what if they find her?" I asked, not budging.

Cloud looked at me and said "Then you get your chance."

I shook my head. "No…"I said slowly. "What if our group doesn't find her but another does…what's are they supposed to do with her."

Cloud was silent until he finally said "Then they use their best judgement as to what to do with her...even if that means death."


End file.
